The Hayabusa-2 interplanetary station has begun the landing of the MINERVA-Ⅱ1 descent vehicles on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. The modules have already successfully separated from the orbiter at an altitude of 55 meters, now the mission team is waiting for confirmation of the landing, according to (1,2,3) on the mission website.
The automated station Hayabusa-2 was launched into space in December 2014. Its goal is the delivery of soil samples from the asteroid 162173 Ryugu, which belongs to the class C asteroids. The device successfully arrived at the asteroid on June 27 and entered a stable 20-km orbit around it. In the next year and a half, the probe will explore Ryugu from orbit, and will launch the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) module on its surface, which has a spectrometer, magnetometer, radiometer and camera. It is assumed that when approaching Ryugu, the device will shoot at the surface with an SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor) device, consisting of a copper projectile and an explosive charge, thus researchers will be able to study the composition of the asteroid's top soil layer. After taking a soil sample from the Ryugu surface, the station will go back to Earth and drop a capsule with the asteroid's substance in December 2020. You can read more about the mission, its tasks and tools in our material "Collecting the Past Bit by Bit".
Previously, the station had already mapped the asteroid's surface from a 20-kilometer orbit, as a result of which scientists from the mission team were able to build two three-dimensional models of the asteroid's rotation. At the end of July, the device approached the surface of Ryugu up to six kilometers, and in early August, it dropped to a minimum height of 851 meters from the surface of Ryugu as part of an experiment to study the gravitational field of an asteroid and survey its surface from close range... Also, a team of scientists recently posted the results of the first month of work in orbit around the asteroid, including a heat map of the Ryugu surface and an estimate of the amount of rock, which allows us to talk about the reality of a collision of an asteroid with another large object in the past. Between September 10 and 12, the probe made a test attempt to descend to the surface of Ryugu, but it was unsuccessful due to problems with the lidar.
On September 19, Hayabusa-2 began preparations for a new rendezvous with the Ryugu surface for the landing of two small descent modules MINERVA-II 1. The descent began on September 20, and the landing of MINERVA-выс1 will take place today, September 21. Modules Rover-1A and 1B are hexagonal in shape and measure 18 centimeters across, 7 cm high and weigh about 1.1 kg each. The Rover-1A has four cameras, the Rover-1B has three, which are designed to create stereo images of Ryugu's ground. The modules are able to move along the surface of the asteroid due to the hopping mechanism and are equipped with sensors for measuring the temperature of the ground, optical sensors, an accelerometer and a gyroscope. The mission team has already received confirmation of the successful separation of the modules from the orbiter at an altitude of 55 meters from the surface of Ryugu at 4:05 GMT and establishing communication with them, now it is necessary to wait for confirmation of a successful landing on Ryugu.
Diagram of landing MINERVA-II 1 modules on the surface of Ryugu
In the future, new vehicles will be launched on the surface of a space body
The spacecraft Hayabusa-2, created in Japan, made a rendezvous with the asteroid Ryugu to land two small descent modules on its surface. This project received less media coverage than the Rosetta flight to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but in many respects it is no less ambitious.
Photo: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The name of the device is translated from japanese like "Sapsan". It is already the second in a series - the first probe was launched on May 9, 2003, and more than two years later reached the asteroid Itokawa, and on June 13, 2010 returned to Earth along with a descent capsule containing samples of the asteroid's material. Despite the fact that then the goal of the mission was successfully achieved, not everything went according to the original plan - the work of the solar panels was disrupted after a powerful solar flare, which caused the flight to take longer than expected, and the ion engines also did not work flawlessly. During the rendezvous, two of the three gyroscopes on board went out of order, and due to software failures, both landings were not entirely successful. Nevertheless, after the device spent almost three years on the surface of the asteroid, scientists managed to restart its ion engine and send spacecraft to the earth. An aluminum plate with the names of 880 thousand earthlings from almost 150 countries remained on the asteroid Itokawa.
MOSCOW, June 25 - RIA Novosti. New photographs of the asteroid Ryugu, taken from a distance of 40 kilometers, indicate the strange nature of its rotation, a large number of gravitational anomalies and the existence of an unusual mountain at its equator. All this will complicate the landing of the Hayabusa-2 probe on its surface, JAXA says.
Dawn probe gets new photos of the mysterious pyramid on CeresThe Dawn interplanetary station, which worked for a year in the orbit of Ceres, has transmitted to Earth new detailed photographs of the mysterious Mount Akhuna, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be not a pyramid, but a "flat" cone.“Now we know that the asteroid is 'lying on its side' - its axis of rotation is perpendicular to its orbit. On the one hand, this makes it easier for us to land, but on the other hand, we found many large craters and a mountain at the asteroid's equator, which will complicate it. the force of gravity was not directed strictly downward in all regions of Ryugu, ”said Yuichi Tsuda, one of the mission leaders.
The Hayabusa-2 probe, which aims to study and sample from the asteroid Ryugu, was launched into space in early December 2014. It will return the first 100% "pure" samples of primary matter to the earth Solar system.
The Japanese vehicle reached its target in early June and began a lengthy procedure of deceleration and rendezvous with the asteroid. The shape of the asteroid repeatedly "changed" as the probe approached the celestial body and the quality of the images improved.
At first it seemed to scientists that it looked like a perfect ball, then - like a "dumpling" or a ball of dango, the national Japanese sweetness. A later series of images and a kind of video taken by Hayabusa 2 in mid-June showed that it has a more angular shape and resembles a sugar cube or a spar crystal.
The device's predecessor, the Hayabusa probe, was launched into space in May 2003. It is the only spacecraft that landed and took off from the surface of a space body outside the Earth-Moon system. In 2005, he landed on the asteroid Itokawa, but due to problems with taking soil samples did not go according to plan.
His successor, as expected by JAXA experts, will return to Earth at the end of 2020, if all soil sampling procedures go according to plan, and the capsule with samples of matter is not damaged when landing on the surface of our planet.
The sampling of soil, despite the fact that "Hayabusa-2" has already reached Ryugu, will not happen very soon. First, the probe must determine its exact orbit and correct it, if necessary, and then comprehensively study the structure of the interior and the relief of the asteroid.
Only after that the interplanetary station will approach the surface of Ryugu and drop on it a kind of "explosion package", which will expose and eject untouched material from the interior of the asteroid. Hayabusa 2 will collect this dust and pebbles levitating in a vacuum on its second flight over this point.
The presence of large depressions and mountains on the surface of Ryugu, according to Tsuda, came as a big surprise to scientists for several reasons. First, their presence speaks of the complex geological history of the asteroid, whose existence, as scientists previously believed, was excluded by the theory of the formation of such bodies.
Secondly, the associated gravitational anomalies will significantly complicate the further rapprochement of Hayabusa-2 with Ryugu, soil sampling and the landing of a micro-rover on its surface. Nevertheless, the scientific team of the probe, as noted by its leader, is full of optimism and confident that the probe will overcome all such difficulties.
17:23 28/09/20180 👁 881
AstronomyCosmonauticsHayabusa-2 Adventure 16:40 28 Sep. 2018 Complexity 3.1 The Hayabusa-2 probe has sent the most detailed image of the surface of the asteroid Ryugu Image of the surface of Ryugu obtained by the ONC-T Hayabusa-2 camera from a distance of 64 meters. JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST
The interplanetary station Hayabusa-2 sent the most detailed photograph of the surface of Ryugu to date, taken during the landing of MINERVA-Ⅱ 1. It turned out that the surface layer of Ryugu consists of larger particles than the soil of the Itokawa asteroid studied by the Hayabusa mission. reported in a press release on the mission website.
The automatic interplanetary station Hayabusa-2 was launched into space on December 3, 2014 and is designed to deliver soil samples from the near-earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, which belongs to the C-class asteroid. him. According to the plan, the scientific program of the mission will last a year and a half, during which the device will explore Ryuga from orbit, and also, during approaching it, will shoot at the surface with an SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor) device, consisting of a copper projectile and an explosive charge, thus researchers will have the opportunity to study the composition of the asteroid's upper soil layer, and will also launch the MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) and MINERVA-Ⅱ 2 descent modules onto its surface. After taking a soil sample from the Ryugu surface, the station will go back to Earth and drop a capsule with asteroid matter in December 2020 year. You can read more about the mission, its tasks and tools in our material "Collecting the Past Bit by Bit".
On September 21, 2018, the Hayabusa-2 station descended to a height of 55 meters from the Ryugu surface and dropped two small MINERVA-II 1 descent modules onto it. The Rover-1A and 1B modules each have a diameter of 18 centimeters, a height of 7 centimeters and a weight of about 1.1 kilograms. They are equipped with cameras, sensors for measuring ground temperature, optical sensors, an accelerometer and a gyroscope and are able to move along the surface of the asteroid using a hopping mechanism. On September 22, confirmation of the successful landing of the modules came to Earth, which are now in working order and are sending new photographs taken during their movements on the surface of Ryugu.
During the descent, when Ryugu was 64 meters away, the orbiter was able to obtain with the help of its onboard camera ONC-T (Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic) the most detailed image of the asteroid's surface, uneven and dotted with boulders of various sizes. Subsequently, another ONC-W1 camera captured an image of a larger area from a distance of 70 meters from the surface of the asteroid. The predecessor of Hayabusa-2, the Hayabusa mission (or MUSES-C), which operated in 2003-2010 and explored the near-Earth asteroid S-class (25143) Itokawa, received the clearest image of its surface from a distance of 63 meters, which shows that, unlike Ryugu, the surface layer of Itokawa consists of more small particles, ranging in size from a few millimeters to several centimeters.
Hayabusa-2 is neither the first nor the last soil survey project. July 2005 surface survey
The probe forms an impact crater on the surface of the asteroid. Artist illustration
On December 3, 2014, the Hayabusa-2 space probe was successfully launched from the Tanegashima cosmodrome. The target of the probe is asteroid 1999 JU3. It was opened on May 10, 1999 within the framework of the LINEAR project by the Socorro Observatory staff. There is nothing special in this asteroid, except for the fact that it was decided to send the Hayabusa-2 probe to it for landing and taking samples of the object's substance. The device was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The first Hayabusa spacecraft visited the asteroid Itokawa in 2005. The new object to study is twice as large as Itokawa, its diameter is 0.92 km. He is quite ordinary, belongs to the Apollo group. The asteroid's orbit is elongated, due to which, revolving around the Sun, it crosses the orbits of the Earth and Mars. So, "Hayabusa-2" last week finally reached the final destination of its journey.
For the next year and a half, the probe will study the asteroid both from the side, from orbit, and on the surface - a descent module will be used for this (and not one, but several). The module will have to not only take samples of the asteroid's substance, but also deliver it back to the station. And that, in turn, in five years will "take" the valuable cargo to Earth for study in laboratories. The samples will be in a sealed capsule.
The Hayabusa-2 probe is sent into space using a launch vehicle
Why study asteroids at all?
The fact is that many of them are the same age as the solar system itself, and if the planets and planetoids evolve, change, then the asteroids in most cases remain the same as they were at the dawn of existence. Thus, if you understand what an asteroid is made of, you can get an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat the solar system, its planets and planetary satellites were formed from. Perhaps all of this will help ultimately figure out how life came about, although this is a more complex question.In addition, scientists hope to get an answer to the question of how the type of star and the features of its "work" affect the formation of planets. Astronomers already have a lot of data on the composition of asteroids, which were obtained through observations, compilation of various kinds of models and combining the data obtained into a single whole - scientific data.
By the way, the Hayabusa-2 mission is not at all unique in terms of delivering the asteroid's material to Earth. The predecessor, the first Hayabusa probe, successfully collected and sent soil samples from the asteroid Itokawa to Earth. It was a very difficult mission, accompanied by technical problems, but nevertheless, it finally reached the home stretch. In the process of work at the station itself, engines, individual structural elements failed, the probe was damaged, the asteroid soil was collected with difficulty. But overall, everything went well. Based on the data obtained, engineers and scientists were able to create a more advanced probe, which is now studying the asteroid.
As for 1999 JU3, there are two reasons why the probe was sent to this particular asteroid. The first is an elongated orbit, which was already mentioned above. The second is the age of the object. Asteroids of this type are very old, older than any other. It belongs to the C-class, the representatives of which stand out among the "relatives" with a high carbon content and hydrated rocks. Perhaps it is this asteroid that will help answer the question of what the protosolar system was - what gave rise to the Sun and the planets. Thanks to the orbit of the asteroid, the probe can easily fly to it, and then return to Earth.
From time to time, samples of rocks that make up class C asteroids come to our planet. These are carbonaceous chondrites, which scientists have been studying for many decades. But meteorites related to carbonaceous chondrites fly through the thickness of the earth's atmosphere. This means that they get very hot, which leads to a change in the composition. An asteroid, as mentioned above, does not change over time, it is a frozen sample of matter from which our system was formed.
Details of the trip "Hayabusy-2"
In order to meet the asteroid, the probe had to fly over 3.2 billion kilometers. At the same time, at the final stage, the object aimed at by the probe was at a distance of 280 million km from the Earth. And no, this is not a typo, it is really about millions of kilometers, not billions.The trajectory of the trip turned out to be so unusual so that the device had the opportunity to make a gravitational maneuver, gain speed with the help of the engines and catch up with the asteroid. 1999 JU3 rushes through space at tremendous speed, and in order to enter its orbit, the probe needs to catch up with the object and coordinate its speed with the speed of the asteroid. It's difficult, but Earth's astronomers have no trouble doing the calculations necessary for travel. The probe's engines are ionic, they were turned off only last month, after Hayabusa-2 approached the asteroid at a distance of several thousand kilometers.
Next, it was required to examine the vicinity of the asteroid for the presence of smaller "neighbors" that could damage the probe in the event of a collision. We are talking about the area of \u200b\u200bgravitational influence of the asteroid itself, the diameter of this sphere is about 100 km. Fortunately, nothing like this has been found, so now the probe can work without any problems.
Now "Hayabusa-2" has entered a 20-km orbit, and from this distance continues to study the asteroid. The probe works fine, there are no technical problems. This expedition wouldn't make sense without a connection. It exists - the device receives signals from the Earth and sends information back. The delay is approximately 15 minutes.
Probe capabilities
The engineers and scientists who designed the "Habyusu-2" equipped it with a number of scientific instruments with which the study of the asteroid takes place:- ONC (Optical Navigation Camera) is an optical system that includes a camera with a long throw lens and two cameras with a short throw lens. Due to its versatility, ONC allows you to take navigation images, photograph the surface of an asteroid, orient the apparatus and direct it along an exact trajectory;
- TIR (Thermal Infrared Camera) is a thermal camera that is designed to determine the temperature of an object in different places. It can also be used to study the so-called thermal inertia of an asteroid. A heat map will help you understand the structure of an object and find out the characteristics of the surface;
- Launch modules - one MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) and three MINERVA-II. The modules will be sent to the asteroid at the moments when the probe gets close to the object at the minimum distance. The probes are designed to analyze surface characteristics - mineral, particle size distribution, chemical properties etc.;
- Penetrator SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor), which will shoot a copper projectile weighing 2.5 kg at an asteroid. The shot will allow you to drive a projectile into the surface at a speed of 2 km / s. The probe will observe the entry point of the projectile using cameras. Further, using another tool, they will take soil samples, which will be placed in a sealed capsule. The probe, as mentioned above, must deliver this capsule to Earth;
- NIRS3 (Near-infrared spectrometer) is a spectrometer that will search for water ice on an asteroid and help determine chemical composition surface.
It should be noted that this year Hayabusa-2 will approach the asteroid to a distance of only 1 kilometer. In early October this year, the MASCOT descent module and one of three smaller MINERVA-II modules will be landed on the asteroid.
Unfortunately, at the end of this year, there will be no news from the probe - it will be in the zone from where radio transmissions are blocked by the Sun (it will be located between the probe and the Earth). Accordingly, without control from the Earth, the probe will not be able to perform active actions - only to observe what is happening. Communication with the probe will be re-established no earlier than January 2019. Accordingly, the work will continue at the same time.
What have you already found out?
In principle, practically all the characteristics of the asteroid determined with the help of the probe, as well as its "behavior", coincide with the calculated ones. So, its diameter is 900 meters, which astronomers determined from the Earth. The period of revolution around its axis is 7.5 hours. There are large craters on the surface, with a maximum crater diameter of 200 meters. There are boulders, something like mountains, and even a lonely rock located right at one of the asteroid's poles. "Mountains" and rock have an albedo higher than that of the surrounding material, so it may well be that they are composed of rock that is different in composition from the material of the surface.It may well be that earlier the asteroid was part of much more large object - also an asteroid. Its direction of rotation is opposite to the direction of rotation of the planets of the solar system and the sun. True, Uranus and Venus also rotate in the opposite direction. Asteroid 1999 JU3 belongs to the group of near-Earth ones. The period of the body's revolution around the Sun is 474 days, and the average orbital velocity - 27 kilometers per second.
The capsule with the substance will be delivered to Earth in December 2020. Not soon, but not much to wait. By the way, the study of the asteroid is not the only important task set by the creators of Hayabusa-2. Another goal is the gradual development of technologies and methods of reentry space missions, mostly interplanetary. In addition, scientists are gradually exploring the potential for developing asteroids. In order to understand how promising space mining can be, it is necessary to know what asteroids carry. Since the mineral composition of the asteroid is uneven, it may well turn out that it also has resources useful for humans.