Hayabusa2 conducts MINERVA-II deployment on Asteroid Ryugu
The Japanese asteroid sampling mission Hayabusa2 – launched on December 3, 2014 aboard an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima, Japan – completed its long flight to asteroid Ryugu (formerly 1999 JU3) before – on September 21 – achieving the milestone of deploying its two tiny MINERVA-II robots/rovers.
[...] The Hayabusa2 mission is intended to image and sample the asteroid 1999 JU3, discovered in May 1999, now known as Ryugu, and to return samples of the asteroid, including samples excavated from an impactor to collect materials from under the surface, to Earth for analysis in laboratories.
[...] Besides the primary and backup sample collectors, the mission includes three MINERVA "hoppers" similar to the one used on the original Hayabusa mission that will land at several locations on the surface to study these locations with cameras and thermometers.
An impactor (SCI) with a 2 kg pure copper lump (Liner) will be used to excavate a crater on the surface, and there will be a sub-satellite that will be released to observe the impact.
Images from MINERVA-II 1 deployment.
162173 Ryugu and Hayabusa2.
Also at BBC, The Register, Space.com (alt).
Previously: Hayabusa2 Approaches Asteroid Ryugu
Hayabusa2 Reaches Asteroid 162173 Ryugu
Related Stories
Hayabusa2 will begin orbiting asteroid 162173 Ryugu on June 27th. The spacecraft includes four robotic landers and will capture material for a sample return:
The Japanese asteroid sampling mission Hayabusa2, launched on December 3, 2014 aboard an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima, Japan, has nearly completed its long flight to asteroid Ryugu (formerly 1999 JU3) after a five year mission and an Earth flyby.
[...] The Hayabusa2 follow-on has one more reaction wheel (to make four) and improved, higher thrust ion engines, along with a backup asteroid sampling system, and the spacecraft is in good health so far. Hayabusa2 is a 600 kilogram (1300 pound) spacecraft that is based on the Hayabusa craft, with some improvements. It is powered by two solar panels and uses an ion engine with xenon propellant as its main propulsion source. The ion engine technology was first used in the Deep Space One experimental spacecraft in the late 1990's and also has been successfully used in the Dawn asteroid probe as well.
[...] Besides the primary and backup sample collectors, the mission includes three MINERVA "hoppers" similar to the one used on the original Hayabusa mission that will land at several locations on the surface to study these locations with cameras and thermometers. [...] International contributions include a small robotic lander (10 kilograms or 20 pounds) called MASCOT that is a joint venture of DLR (Germany) and CNES (France), while NASA is providing communications through the Deep Space Network.
[...] Its arrival at Ryugu is set for June 27th, and Hayabusa2 will be 20 km (12 miles) above the surface on that date, as things currently stand. The arrival will be followed by a press conference in Sagamihara, Japan.
The total mission cost is about $150 million. The H-IIA rocket costs about $90 million to launch.
Also at NHK.
JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has begun orbiting asteroid 162173 Ryugu at a distance of about 20 kilometers:
JAXA confirmed Hayabusa2, JAXA's asteroid explorer rendezvoused with Ryugu, the target asteroid.
On June 27, 2018, JAXA operated Hayabusa2 chemical propulsion thrusters for the spacecraft's orbit control.*
The confirmation of the Hayabusa2 rendezvous made at 9:35 a.m. (Japan Standard Time, JST) is based on the following data analyses;
·The thruster operation of Hayabusa2 occurred nominally
·The distance between Hayabusa2 and Ryugu is approximately 20 kilometers
·Hayabusa2 is able to maintain a constant distance to asteroid Ryugu
·The status of Hayabusa2 is normal
Also at Spaceflight Now.
Previously: Hayabusa2 Approaches Asteroid Ryugu
The first rovers to explore an asteroid just sent photos home
The first rovers to explore the surface of an asteroid have landed. After touching down September 21, the vehicles took pictures of asteroid Ryugu and at least one hopped around.
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which arrived at the near-Earth asteroid on June 27 after a journey of more than three years, released the MINERVA-II1 container from a height of about 60 meters (SN Online: 6/27/18). The container then released two 18-centimeter-wide, cylindrical rovers. Because Ryugu's gravity is so weak, the rovers can hop using rotating motors that generate a torque and send them airborne for about 15 minutes.
Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency released the first blurry, otherworldly pictures from the rovers on September 22. One image appears to have been taken midhop.
Images and comments from Hayabusa2 team members.
162173 Ryugu and Hayabusa2.
Previously: Hayabusa2 Approaches Asteroid Ryugu
Hayabusa2 Reaches Asteroid 162173 Ryugu
Hayabusa2 Deploys MINERVA Landers to Asteroid Ryugu
Asteroid capsule 'found' in Australian desert
A recovery team in Australia has found a space capsule carrying the first large quantities of rock from an asteroid.
The capsule, containing material from a space rock called Ryugu, parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia.
The samples were originally collected by a Japanese spacecraft called Hayabusa-2, which spent more than a year investigating the object.
The container detached from Hayabusa-2, later entering the Earth's atmosphere.
The official Hayabusa-2 Twitter account reported that the capsule and its parachute had been found at 19:47 GMT.
Also at CNET.
Previously: Hayabusa2 Approaches Asteroid Ryugu
Hayabusa2 Reaches Asteroid 162173 Ryugu
Hayabusa2 Deploys MINERVA Landers to Asteroid Ryugu
Japan's Hopping Rovers Capture Amazing Views of Asteroid Ryugu
Short-Lived MASCOT Lander Reaches Asteroid Ryugu
Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Faces Difficulties in Landing and Collecting a Sample from an Asteroid
Hayabusa2 "Lands" on Asteroid Ryugu
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @04:25AM
Cut this anime bullshit outta here. Leave pedophilia to the Vatican. What is this, Pattyland?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @08:43AM
that I watched that video with my computer inadvertently on mute.
But somehow, I am glad I did.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday September 22 2018, @03:26PM (3 children)
It's good to see other nations do space exploration. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a distant 2nd to the US. Since that ended, the US has kept up fairly well with doing further exploration. But without the competition, some of the edge was gone.
If the US won't budget for NASA to send orbiters to Uranus and Neptune, maybe other nations will. I feel we should have done those missions years ago. Mind, the look at the polar regions of Jupiter that Juno gave us is well worth it, but dang, there must be a lot to learn from an extended close look at these distant worlds that only Voyager 2 has briefly visited.
We should also prepare an orbiter for Planet 9, have the craft ready to launch within a year of finding it. Another New Horizons would need at least 55 years to reach Planet 9 in the best of circumstances. Much more likely is a trip of over a century. To send it a lot faster in order to cut travel time then leads to the problem of how to shed all that velocity so it can enter orbit about Planet 9. Probably have to settle for a probe first. But no one seems terribly excited about making such preparations and getting a close look at Planet 9 ASAP.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday September 22 2018, @04:08PM
I think it's a little premature to making plans around "Planet 9" - we don't even have any conclusive hints that anything substantial exists beyond Neptune. I mean, statistically it almost certainly does, probably several of them - the Oort cloud should extend out a couple light years after all. But what hints that we have found suggest anything that does exist is so far beyond Pluto that, as you say, it will take at *least* many decades to get there. Possibly several centuries with current technology. So what's a few more years of waiting one way or the other? Either way the people who discover the planet will likely be dead before we get a close look at it. We'd really want to study it remotely for a while first anyway, to get a sense of what sort of instruments we'd even want on that probe.
Plus, space-travel technology and launch infrastructure is advancing rapidly. Ion drives are leaving the lab, and those are going to *completely* change the game. A chemical rocket launched on the day of discovery would get passed by an ion drive launched decades later, long before it got anywhere near the planet. So why waste resources launching the first probe at all? We already know it will be hopelessly obsolete before it even reaches it's destination.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday September 22 2018, @04:17PM
Reaching the newly discovered Planet 9 which is about 18 times farther than Pluto [nextbigfuture.com]
NASA Concept to use 100 MW beamed power for ion drive that is 20 times better [nextbigfuture.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Monday September 24 2018, @04:37AM
It's interesting how Japanese make tribute works for their space projects, but I at least don't notice the same happening in the US. Any songs/videos about the SLS that I missed?
(I prefer this version over the one linked in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i28iBZx-W_E) [youtube.com]
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: -1, Troll) by MyOpinion on Thursday September 27 2018, @10:26PM
.. Japan's "space agency" CGI is pretty terrible compared to the competitors' (which is already very bad)
Where is the 24/7 4K uninterrupted live broadcast stream for the world to see?
This should be a piece of cake for a "space agency", why is it not streamed right here, right now on my screen? I paid for it have I not?
Truth is like a Lion: you need not defend it; let it loose, and it defends itself. https://discord.gg/3FScNwc