loading…
This tiny capsule plane carrying pure pieces of asteroids close to Earth, Asteroid Ryugu . The samples were taken millions of miles from Earth by missions Hayabusa2 Japan, which studied Ryugu with a width of 900 meters in the period June 2018-November 2019. (Also read: Changes in Orbit, Apophis Asteroid So Earth Real Threat )
The predecessor Hayabusa2 was the first capsule to bring home samples of space rock. The plane delivered pieces of the rocky asteroid Itokawa in 2010. But Hayabusa – Japanese for the peregrine eagle – returned less than 1 milligram of the material. Hayabusa2 is estimated to have exceeded 100 mg (0.0035 ounces), and its samples came from a very different type of asteroid – primitive “C-type” space rock which is rich in water and organic compounds containing carbon.
“The material that makes up the Earth, the oceans and its life is in the primordial clouds in which our solar system was formed. In the early solar system, this material touched and was able to interact chemically within the same parent object,” wrote an official of the Exploration Agency (JAXA) in an overview of Hayabusa2. , as quoted Space.com.
“This interaction has been maintained to this day in primitive bodies (asteroids type C). So returning samples from these objects for analysis would explain the origin and evolution of the solar system and the building blocks of life,” he said.
Having samples on Earth is the key to unraveling the solar system. Scientists in laboratories around the world can examine cosmic rocks in much greater detail than Hayabusa2, or other investigations conducted on their own in outer space. The purity of the returned material is also a major selling point.
Researchers already have access to many meteorites, but these asteroid samples have been significantly altered by their travels through Earth’s atmosphere and their time on the planet’s surface.
The Long Journey of Habuyasa 2
Weighing 690 kilograms, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft was launched in December 2014. The aircraft encountered Asteroid Ryugu on 27 June 2018, starting an epic exploration campaign.
Hayabusa2 observed Ryugu in detail and attached several mini-cloaks to the surface of the asteroid – several small hopping rovers and a microwave-sized lander called MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout), provided by the German Aerospace Center in collaboration with French space agency CNES.
The main spacecraft Hayabusa2 made two trips of its own to the Ryugu surface, both to collect samples. During this first operation, in February 2019, Hayabusa2 took several surface materials. Then in April of the same year, the spacecraft fired a 2.5 kg copper projectile at Ryugu, detonating a crater 33 feet (10 m) wide into the asteroid’s surface. Then, in July, the vehicle descends below collecting some of this recently excavated earth and rock.
Hayabusa2 separated these two samples, so that scientists could compare material from two very different environments – Ryugu’s surface, which is exposed to space radiation, and the depth of the more protected asteroid. (Also read: 6 Types of Covid-19 Vaccines Legalized, Minister of Health Appoints Erick Thohir to Manage Independent Vaccinations )
(iqb)
– .
