A Nipponese spacecraft that will return a sample of an asteroid to Earth has make it at its target – the adamant - shaped Ryugu , 280 million km ( 175 million miles ) from Earth .
The ballistic capsule , Hayabusa 2 , is now just 20 km ( 12 miles ) forth from Ryugu , where it will brood in place to study the object . concord to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) , scientific reflexion and surveying of the asteroid will now lead off .
“ JAXA confirm Hayabusa2 , JAXA ’s asteroid explorer , rendezvous with Ryugu , ” they said in astatement . “ On June 27 , 2018 , JAXA operate Hayabusa 2 [ sic ] chemical actuation thrusters for the spacecraft ’s electron orbit restraint . ”
The spacecraft is now maintaining a unvarying space from Ryugu , which come out to have a pretty unique shape . The vast prominence at its equator suggests it oncespun quite rapidly , about once every three or four hour . Today it spin at 7.5 hr , but it ’s not clear why it has slowed down .
“ The project team is fascinate by the appearance of Ryugu and morale is develop at the prospect of this challenge , ” the delegation ’s project handler , Yuichi Tsuda , said in astatement . “ Together with all of you , we have become the first eyewitnesses to see asteroid Ryugu . I find this awful honor as we proceed with the mission operations . ”
Now that the spacecraft has arrived , the exciting missionary post can begin . Onboard Hayabusa 2 are five separate Lander , which will be deploy to the asteroid over the next class .
In September at the earliest this year , it will deploythree roversto the Earth’s surface and an additional German - built lander , to canvass it up close . Then , in springiness next twelvemonth , it will release an impactor and effort to make an hokey crater on the asteroid .
If successful , the spacecraft will then lour itself into the crater , and fire a projectile on the final stage of an arm to kick up textile from the crater and collect it . This material , from under the control surface , will be relatively fresh and should give scientist an insight into the interior of an asteroid .
The rotation and shape of the asteroid will make the landings somewhat tricksy . The shape means that its gravitational force out does not luff directly down , while an abundance of Crater will mean care will need to be taken selecting a landing site .
Hayabusa 2 is schedule to depart the asteroid in December 2019 , surrender a ejector seat containing samples from the asteroid to Earth in 2020 . This timetable is capable to alteration , though , depending on how operations at the asteroid progress .
The mission is the successor to theHayabusa missionin the 2000s , which return minimal samples from the asteroid Itokawa . This clip around scientist will be hop from a bigger haul – and so far , everything is likely on racecourse .
