INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Artwork: Hayabusa-2 successfully touched down on asteroid Ryugu
A
Japanese spacecraft has touched down on an asteroid in an attempt to collect a sample of rock from the surface.The Hayabusa-2 probe was
trying to grab the sample from a pre-chosen site on the asteroid Ryugu just before 23:00 GMT on 21 February.The spacecraft reached asteroid
Ryugu in June 2018 after a three-and-a-half-year journey from Earth.It is expected to return to Earth with the rocky material it has cached
in 2020.During sample collection, the spacecraft approached the 1km-wide asteroid with an instrument called the sampler horn
On touchdown, a 5g "bullet" made of the metal tantalum was fired into the rocky surface at 300m/s.The particles kicked up by the impact
should have been be caught by the sampler horn."We made a successful touchdown, including firing a bullet," said Hayabusa-2 project manager
Yuichi Tsuda."We made the ideal touchdown in the best conditions," he said.Image copyrightAFPImage caption
There were
celebrations in the control room in Sagamihara, Japan
The spacecraft began descending from its "home position" of 20km above
the asteroid's surface in the early hours of 21 February (GMT) - several hours later than planned.Ryugu belongs to a particularly
primitive type of space rock known as a C-type
The near-Earth asteroid (NEA) is a relic left over from the early days of our Solar System.Image copyrightJAXA et alImage caption
The red arrow shows the location of the target marker on the surface
Prof Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's
University Belfast, told TheIndianSubcontinent News: "We think we understand how carbon-rich asteroids migrate from the asteroid belt to
become near-Earth asteroids, but the samples from Ryugu will allow its history to be explored."After the Rosetta mission, it's now clear
that most of Earth's water did not come from comets in the early days of the Solar System
We believe carbon-rich (C-type) asteroids may have significant amounts of water locked up in their rocks
It's possible such asteroids may have brought to Earth both the water and the organic material necessary for life to start
"These samples will be crucial in investigating this possibility."Hayabusa-2 had earlier dropped a small, reflective, beanbag-like "target
This was used as a guide as the spacecraft descended to the rough surface of the asteroid.Controllers were aiming for the centre of a
circle, some 6m in diameter, located about 4-5m away from the target marker
The Japanese space agency (Jaxa) had originally planned to carry out the touchdown operation in October last year
But the asteroid's surface was found to be much more rugged than expected, with numerous, hefty boulders making it hard to find a location
that was large and flat enough to sample.Controllers had hoped they would have an area of about 100m in diameter to target
But because of the surface properties, this had to be reduced to a 6m circle for what team members are calling a "pinpoint touchdown".The
sampler horn that extends out from the bottom of the spacecraft has a length of 1m
It's therefore vital that there are no boulders more than 50cm in height at the landing site, to reduce the chances that the body of the
spacecraft could hit a rock.Image copyrightJaxaImage caption
The sampler horn will be used to collect material for
delivery to Earth in 2020
Unexpected surface properties also have the potential to affect the amount of material collected
Before arriving at Ryugu, researchers had expected the surface to be covered in a powdery layer of fine-grained material - the regolith.In
fact, the upper layer turned out to be akin to gravel, consisting of rocky chunks that are centimetre-sized or larger.Prof Fitzsimmons told
TheIndianSubcontinent News: "This was a surprise, as other near-Earth asteroids we have visited previously have shown areas dominated by
"It might be due to the carbon-rich composition, as the previous NEAs are composed of silicate rock, which are more Earth-like
But the shape of Ryugu also implies it was spinning much faster in the past, so it's possible this could have affected the particles'
sizes in some fashion."Scientists carried out additional tests in Japan to determine whether the sample material could still be gathered by
the spacecraft.They used a container of artificial gravel with a similar size distribution to that on Ryugu
In a vacuum chamber, they fired a tantalum bullet identical to that used by Hayabusa-2 into the gravel.According to Jaxa, the results of the
test exceeded expectations, with the tantalum projectile yielding fragments of rock in size ranges that should easily pass through the
This suggests that Hayabusa-2 should have been able to collect a sample.In September, Hayabusa-2 deployed two robotic "hoppers" that
propelled themselves across the surface of Ryugu, sending back images and other data.Then, in October, the "mothership" despatched a
French-German instrument package called Mascot to the surface.Later this year, perhaps in March or April, Jaxa plans to detonate an
explosive charge that will punch a crater into the surface of Ryugu.Hayabusa-2 would then descend into the crater to collect fresh samples
of material that have not been altered by aeons of exposure to space."We know that the surfaces of asteroids are changed over time by
bombardment with energetic particles from the Sun and interstellar space," said Alan Fitzsimmons
"Yet studies with telescopes show that this 's pace weathering' affects the surfaces of carbon-rich asteroids differently to those mostly
made from more rock-like silicate minerals
We don't know why this is, and the fresh sub-surface samples from Ruygu will play a very important role in understanding how this
happens."Follow Paul on Twitter.
