Hayabusa2 Faces New Challenges with Unexpectedly Small and fast-Spinning Asteroid Target
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft, celebrated for delivering asteroid samples from Ryugu to Earth in December 2020 - a feat previously achieved only by its predecessor Hayabusa with samples from Itokawa in 2010 – is embarking on an extended mission to collect more samples and unlock secrets about the solar system’s origins. However, recent observations suggest its new target, asteroid 1998 KY26, presents meaningful hurdles.
Asteroid 1998 KY26 is believed to contain a significant amount of water, approximately one million gallons, but new data reveals it’s much smaller and rotates far faster than initially estimated. Hayabusa2 is scheduled to rendezvous with the asteroid in 2031 to gather dust and rock samples directly from its source.
A new study published in Nature Communications details how astronomers, utilizing observatories worldwide, have refined our understanding of KY26. They’ve discovered the asteroid is only 36 feet (11 meters) wide – substantially smaller than the previously estimated 98 feet (30 meters) – and completes a rotation in just five minutes, roughly twice as fast as earlier calculations suggested.
“We found that the reality of the object was completely different from what was previously described,” explains Toni Santana-Ros, a researcher at the University of Alicante, Spain, and lead author of the study.
This presents a major challenge. Hayabusa2 successfully landed on Ryugu,a nearly 3,000-foot (900-meter) asteroid,twice in 2019,once to collect surface samples and again to retrieve subsurface material from a crater created by the first landing. Landing on the much smaller and rapidly spinning 1998 KY26 will be considerably more difficult.
The research team, employing telescopes at the European Southern Observatory and other facilities, is actively gathering data to prepare for the mission.Santana-Ros highlights the significance of their work: “The remarkable story here is that we find that the size of the asteroid is proportional to the size of the spacecraft that will visit it! And we can characterize such a small object using our telescope, which means that we can do it for other objects in the future.” This improved characterization method could have broad implications for future asteroid exploration, including near-Earth object studies and even potential asteroid mining.
While the landing will be a complex undertaking,the potential rewards are substantial. For now, scientists and space enthusiasts alike must wait - with anticipation – for 2031 to arrive.
