Posted on 02/21/2019 6:43:20 PM PST by BenLurkin
A Japanese asteroid probe has grabbed its first space-rock sample.
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully nabbed bits of the 3,000-foot-wide (900 meters) asteroid Ryugu today (Feb. 21; Feb. 22 Japan time), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials announced.
Hayabusa2 spiraled down to Ryugu's surface, fired a 0.2-ounce (5 grams) tantalum "bullet" into the boulder-strewn rock at close range, and collected pieces of the ejected material using its specialized "sampling horn," JAXA officials said during a press conference this evening.
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Hayabusa2's main goal is to help scientists better understand the solar system's early history and evolution, as well as the role that carbon-rich asteroids such as Ryugu may have played in life's emergence on Earth.
The collected samples are key to this objective: The Ryugu material will come down to Earth in a special return capsule in December 2020. Scientists in labs around the world can then scrutinize the stuff with far more advanced equipment than the Hayabusa2 team could pack onto a single spacecraft.
The sample bounty will include more than just the material Hayabusa2 collected today. The mothership is expected to grab two more samples in the coming weeks and months. The second sampling sortie will unfold much like today's did, but the third will be dramatically different: Hayabusa2 will fire a copper projectile into Ryugu, wait a bit for the dust to clear, and then swoop in to grab material from the newly created crater. This formerly subsurface stuff will be pristine, unaffected by weathering from deep-space radiation.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
People who accomplish space exploration are amazing.
You can say that again
That's one heck of a Haya-speed-busa ......
“Space Sushi”.
With a Tantalum bullet they are going for penetration.
Tantalum is one of the hardest elements so expect little deformation.
“The Ryugu material will come down to Earth in a special return capsule in December 2020.”
Hmm. Isn’t the remake of “The Andromeda Strain” due out in theaters January 2021?
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