Hayabusa2‘s 2031 Asteroid Landing Plan Complex by Unexpectedly Small, Rapidly Spinning Target
Tokyo, Japan – Japan’s โคHayabusa2 spacecraft, already celebrated for delivering asteroid samples โฃfrom Ryugu in 2020, facesโค a โsignificant challenge to โits extended mission: its next target asteroid, โข1998 KY26,โ is far smaller and spinsโข much faster than previously understood, perhaps jeopardizing a planned landing in 2031.New observations reveal the asteroidโข is only 36 feet (11 meters) wide and completesโฃ a rotation in roughly five minutes -โฃ aโ stark contrast toโฃ earlier estimates.
Hayabusa2 made historyโค as the world’s second triumphant asteroid sample return mission, followingโ the โขinitial โฃHayabusa mission to Itokawa in 2010. Following its successful Ryugu mission, the Japan Aerospace Exploration โฃAgency (JAXA) extended Hayabusa2’s journey, setting its sights onโข 1998 KY26, a near-Earth object believed to containโค approximately a million gallons of โฃwater. The mission aimed to gatherโ further samples to deepen understanding of the solar โฃsystem’s formation.
Though, a recent โคstudy published in Nature Communications details the revised understanding of 1998 KY26. Researchers, led โby Toni โSantana-Ros of theโค University of Alicante, Spain, combined new โobservations from โฃobservatories โworldwide with existing radar data. Their findings indicate โฃthe asteroid is โขnearly three times โขsmaller thanโค theโฃ previously estimated 98 feet (30 meters) and rotates at approximately twice โthe speed.
“We found that the reality of โthe object is completely different from what it wasโค previously described โas,” Santana-Ros stated in a release from the European Southern Observatory.”One day on this โasteroid lasts only five minutes!”
The implications for Hayabusa2 are substantial.โ The spacecraft successfully landed on the nearly 3,000-foot (900-meter) wide asteroid Ryuguโฃ twice in 2019,โฃ first in February and again โคin July to collect subsurface โคsamples after โขcreatingโ an artificial crater.โฃ Landing on 1998 โฃKY26, comparable in size to the spacecraft itself, presents a dramatically increased level of difficulty.
“The amazing story hereโ is that we found โขthatโฃ the sizeโ of the asteroid is comparable to the size โคof the spacecraft that is going to โคvisit it!” Santana-Ros explained.”Andโค we where able to characterize such โฃa small object using our telescopes, which means that we can do it for other objects in the โขfuture.”
The โฃresearch team utilized the european southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope,among other instruments,to gather the crucial data. While the findings complicate the landing plan, they also demonstrate the potential for characterizing even extremely small โnear-Earth objects – โaโค capability โฃwith implicationsโ for futureโ asteroid exploration and potential resource extraction.
JAXAโ hasโฃ not yet announcedโข any changes to the 2031 rendezvous,โข but the new data will undoubtedly necessitate a reassessment of landing strategies. the mission remains a significantโ undertaking, promising valuable insights into the composition and origins of โฃwater-rich asteroids, even if a landing provesโ unfeasible. The world now awaits โขfurther developments as โscientists prepare for โฃthis โchallenging, โyetโข potentially groundbreaking, encounter.