Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

SpaceNut · 2018-09-21 18:33:51

Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese space agency, JAXA. It follows on from Hayabusa and addresses weak points identified in that mission. Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused with near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018. It is in the process of surveying the asteroid for a year and a half, departing in December 2019, and returning to Earth in December 2020.

Japan has been doing what Nasa has not been for some time now...

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe drops off rovers at an asteroid and snaps a shadowy selfie

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe began the climactic phase of its mission overnight by sending out its first two rovers as it hovered less than 200 feet over an half-mile-wide asteroid, more than 180 million miles from Earth.
During the drop-off, the 18-foot-wide spacecraft even took a picture of its own shadow, spread out on the asteroid Ryugu’s rocky surface like a black-and-white copy of the Canadian flag.
The release of Hayabusa 2’s MINERVA-II-1 rovers occurred at 9:06 p.m. PT Thursday, mission controllers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency reported in a tweet. Hayabusa 2 dipped as low as 55 meters (180 feet) for the release, then retreated back from the asteroid.
Hayabusa 2 was launched nearly four years ago and made its rendezvous with Ryugu in June. The goal of the $150 million mission is to study the asteroid in depth, from space and from the surface, and bring samples back to Earth in late 2020. Such samples could shed additional light on the solar system’s formation and life’s chemical building blocks.
This mission follows up on the first Hayabusa odyssey, which touched down on the asteroid Itokawa in 2005 and returned a smattering of samples in 2010.
Hayabusa 1 had a similar lander experiment, known as MINERVA (which stands for “Micro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid”), but the drum-sized rover container missed making its landing and sailed off into interplanetary space instead.
If MINERVA-II-1’s container follows its proper course, two 7-inch-wide rovers will touch down on Ryugu’s surface, hop around and take pictures. Stereo images from Rover-1A and Rover-1B would be sent up to the Hayabusa 2 mothership, and then relayed back to Earth.
Ryugu’s gravity is so weak that it could take up to 15 minutes for a rover to make a slow, single hop from one spot to another spot up to 50 feet (15 meters) away.
MINERVA-II-1 is just the first surface sortie for Hayabusa 2. A larger, instrument-laden lander, provided by the German and French space agencies and known as MASCOT (“Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout”), will be dropped off next month. Another rover package, MINERVA-II-2, is due to be deployed next year.
The main spacecraft itself is also scheduled to descend to the surface in 2019 and collect samples for the return trip.
This is a big year for studying small solar system bodies: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is expected to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in December and begin an observational campaign aimed at collecting its own set of surface samples for return to Earth in 2023.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/busine … 82955.html

louis · 2018-09-22 03:51:32

Very interesting mission. It will be nice for JAXA to get some success under their belt as they have had a somewhat chequered record in recent years haven't they?

SpaceNut · 2018-09-22 07:58:10

The cash flow is just one restrictor of mission types that they could do. Any multi year mission can be fraught with all sorts of issues as the parts age. Sure these are limited research vehicles or probes but what we can do is with in the instruments that we send on them.
The research is part of answering of the question in that are they part of the original planet forming dust disk or are they from out side and just captured debri.

SpaceNut · 2018-09-28 20:27:02

Japan’s space rover releases new photos of asteroid surface

180928-japan-rover-75.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=618&h=410&crop=1

It took more than three years for the unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft to reach the vicinity of asteroid Ryugu. One week ago, the craft successfully dropped a small capsule with two rovers onto its surface. The rovers, each about the size of circular cookie tin, don’t have wheels but jump around the asteroid.
Hayabusa2 is scheduled to drop a German-French lander with four observation devices onto the asteroid next week. It later will attempt to land on the asteroid itself to collect samples to send back to researchers on Earth.

Just amazing...

tahanson43206 · 2020-08-29 19:59:36

Here is an update on Hayabusa2 ... I just found it while following a link SpaceNut provided in another topic ...

The Hayabusa2 Re-entry Capsule Approved to Land in Australia
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Aug 19, 2020
On August 10, 2020, JAXA was informed that the Authorisation of Return of Overseas-Launched Space Object (AROLSO) for the re-entry capsule from Hayabusa2 was issued by the Australian Government. The date of the issuance is August 6, 2020. The Hayabusa2 re-entry capsule will return to Earth in South Australia on December 6, 2020 (Japan Time and Australian Time). The landing site will be the Woomera Prohibited Area. The issuance of the AROLSO gave a major step forward for the capsule recovery. ... read more

Nice to see the Australian's approving the landing request, despite the forbidding name of the site.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2020-12-06 21:44:27

Here is another update on Hayabusa2, with a prediction of a mission to Phobos ...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/asteroid-cap … 58699.html

Addressing journalists, he acknowledged past missions that had experienced technical problems, but said: "Regarding Hayabusa-2, we did everything according to the schedule - 100%. And we succeeded in sample return as planned. As a result, we can move on to the next stage in space development."
The next stage includes a mission called MMX, which will aim to bring back samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2020-12-07 20:58:03

Scientists hope the samples, which are expected to amount to no more than 0.1 grams of material, could help shed light on the origin of life...

SpaceNut · 2020-12-07 20:58:54

The extremely high precision work at the end of Hayabusa2's six-year mission thrilled many Japanese.
Capsule With Asteroid Samples Arrives in Japan for Research

The Japanese space agency says a small capsule containing asteroid soil samples that was dropped from space by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft has returned to Japan for research into the origin of the solar system.

Launched in December 2014, the unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft touched down twice last year on the asteroid Ryugu. Despite an unexpectedly rocky surface that even forced the mission's team to revise landing plans, the spacecraft successfully collected data and soil samples from two locations — on the surface and from underground.
Scientists say the samples, especially ones taken from under the asteroid's surface, contain data from 4.6 billion years ago unaffected by pace radiation and other environmental factors. They are particularly interested in studying organic materials in the samples to learn about how they were distributed in the solar system and if or how they are related to life on Earth.
At the end of its yearlong journey from asteroid Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth, Hayabusa2 released the capsule Saturday from 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) in space, successfully sending it to land on a targeted area in a sparsely populated desert in Woomera.

SpaceNut · 2020-12-14 18:29:09

Black 'sand-like' asteroid dust found in box from Japan probe BB1bUTwO.img?h=590&w=768&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=350&y=271

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo … r-BB1bV717?Japan confirms its asteroid mission returned samples of space rocks BB1bV2S5.img?h=450&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-06-10 10:40:40

Asteroid samples contain 'clues to origin of life': Japan scientists
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Aste … s_999.html
Asteroid dust collected by a Japanese space probe contains organic material that shows some of the building blocks of life on Earth may have been formed in space, scientists said Friday.
Pristine material from the asteroid Ryugu was brought back to Earth in 2020 after a six-year mission to the celestial body around 300 million kilometres away.
But scientists are only just beginning to discover its secrets in the first studies on small portions of the 5.4 grams (0.2 ounces) of dust and dark, tiny rocks.

More than 20 amino acids found in samples from Ryugu asteroid
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220606_24/

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-06-10 10:43:56)

Calliban · 2022-06-20 03:27:09

The discovery of amino acids on Ryugu is actually a very big deal, considering that this is probably the remains of a comet. If there are amino acids here, then there are probably amino acids in the various KBOs and dwarf planets. Most of those dwarf planets would have generated sufficient internal heat to sustain internal oceans, at least early in their history. Hence we have both the ingredients of life and the conditions needed to sustain it.

Void · 2022-06-20 08:00:02

I am guessing you know of Aluminum 26.

https://www.innovations-report.com/phys … lar-disks/
Quote:

The decay of the radioactive isotope Aluminium-26 is thought to be the important heating source in planetesimals, which are the building blocks of planets and help to set the initial conditions for the formation of the solar system. Furthermore, Aluminium-26 is one of the most important “clocks” used to date solar system bodies.

The wet interiors then would create hydrated minerals. Shattering impacts would create rubble pile Asteroids and dust which would distribute to various objects.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature0 … atmosphere.
Quote:

Our results indicate that hydrated asteroids will produce dust particles during collisions at a much higher rate than anhydrous asteroids, which explains the different relative abundances of the hydrated material in micrometeorites and meteorites: the abundances are established before contact with the Earth's atmosphere.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/dawn-sees … t-asteroid
Quote:

"The source of the hydrogen within Vesta's surface appears to be hydrated minerals delivered by carbon-rich space rocks that collided with Vesta at speeds slow enough to preserve their volatile content," said Prettyman.

So, I guess most asteroids would have had a tendency to attract and capture such dust. But more recent impacts may have swept it away from many asteroids.

The question of "When" Phobos and Deimos will be important then. Even if they are rubble from impacts with Mars, if early enough they may have collected some of the dust into them during accretion from a phase as rings.

In any case an asteroid like Vesta or Psyche 16 may be attractive because of the potential source of water.

Hope I have not annoyed the other posting members here.

Done.

Last edited by Void (2022-06-20 08:07:19)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-22 18:21:27

Japan space probe finds water in asteroid for first time

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Scienc … first-time

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-10-11 09:48:09

Thanks to Hayabusa 2’s Samples, Scientists can Track the History of Ryugu Earlier in the History of the Solar System

https://www.universetoday.com/157945/th … ar-system/

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-10-25 08:04:59

A Traveler from the Edge of the Solar System
https://www.mpg.de/19388956/1020-aero-a … m-151060-x
The asteroid Ryugu likely formed at the outer edge of the Solar System

tahanson43206 · 2022-11-05 18:20:08

this is a follow up to the post by Mars_B4_Moon ...

https://www.discovery.com/space/asteroi … e-sun--how-

Asteroid rock on green starry background
Jonathan Knowles
Asteroid Ryugu Has Dust Grains Older Than the Sun. How?
By: Paul M. Sutter
In 2018 the Japanese space agency sent the Hayabusa2 mission to the asteroid Ryugu, As a part of that mission, the spacecraft blasted material off the surface of the asteroid, put it in a bottle, and sent it back to Earth. Two years later that sample landed in the western deserts of Australia.
October 28, 2022

That retrieval contains the most pristine sample of a carbon-rich asteroid ever obtained. Immediately scientists began studying the material, using its chemical clues to help understand the history of our solar system. And now the preliminary results are in, and it looks like Ryugu might be older than the Sun itself.
The first clue is that Ryugu is extremely rich in carbon and organic materials which appear to never have been subjected to high temperatures. That means that Ryugu must have originally formed in the outskirts of the solar system, at least beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Any closer and our young Sun would have partially melted it and altered its chemical makeup.
The second clue is that many of the chemicals found inside Ryugu feature water, which means that the asteroid once had a lot of water ice in its makeup. Again, if Ryugu formed too close to the Sun, the ice would have vaporized, leaving no water to find its way into various interesting chemical combinations.

While astronomers had long suspected that asteroids like Ryugu formed far away from the Sun, there was no way to prove it until now, because any asteroid material that we would study had to first fall through our atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour. This process alters the asteroids so much that it’s difficult to tell what the asteroid was originally like. But with Ryugu, we finally got our hands on a clean sample.
All this means that Ryugu, and carbon-rich asteroids like it, formed from the swirling disk of material that surrounded the Sun before it ignited fusion reactions and became a star. In fact, Ryugu probably predates the formation of the planets itself. But shortly after it formed, it got a gravitational kick from Jupiter or Saturn, which sent it and all its friends into the asteroid belt, where it has remained for billions of years.
That’s why astronomers are so interested in these kinds of asteroids. They’re time capsules, giving us a window to see what the solar system was like before it even became our solar system.

Forwarded by a relative ...

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2023-03-21 12:26:49

Building block of life found in sample from asteroid Ryugu

https://www.space.com/building-block-li … roid-ryugu

Mars_B4_Moon · 2023-06-17 10:07:18

Perhaps also worth a discussion in the Asteroid Miner topic

Grains from asteroid Ryugu are now being distributed to researchers around the world. But what were the main results from the Hayabusa2 mission, and the plethora of papers published by the initial analysis teams?

https://twitter.com/girlandkat/status/1 … 8442797058

Mars_B4_Moon · 2023-12-12 18:55:04

Study on Asteroid Ryugu samples highlights differences from primitive meteorites

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Stud … s_999.html

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-29 10:31:43

It's been a while since we heard anything about the visit to Ryugu.

Today's Internet feed included a report on discovery of an Earth based life form, despite the stringent controls the Japanese put in place to prevent contamination.

My reaction after reading the article is that this may reinforce the idea of setting up sample analysis facilities on the Moon.

And event ** that ** facility would need to be decontaminated exhaustively, because microbes would surely have clambered on board for a trip to space.

It's an interesting problem The article reports that the bacteria found plenty of goodies to chew on in the asteroid sample, They ran out of other needed supplies, or they would have just kept going. The good news is that the bacteria only got a few microns into the sample before they expired.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo … r-AA1uWv4w

However, there’s also a silver lining. The microbes only penetrated the first few microns of the sample, giving confidence that even if contamination exists, it can be removed. In addition, no other microorganisms were reported in any of the Ryugu samples. So, under the current protocols, the risk of contamination is still low (but not zero).
This sample brought an important lesson. From this, researchers can make improved protocols to handle and analyze the samples, bolstering the integrity of extraterrestrial sample analyses. As we look for signs of life beyond Earth, these findings remind us just how resilient life is here on our planet — and how ready it is to jump on every grain of soil.
Journal Reference: Matthew J. Genge et al, Rapid colonization of a space‐returned Ryugu sample by terrestrial microorganisms, Meteoritics & Planetary Science (2024). DOI: 10.1111/maps.14288
This story originally appeared on ZME Science. Want to get smarter every day? Subscribe to our newsletter and stay ahead with the latest science news.

(th)

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#1 2018-09-21 18:33:51

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#2 2018-09-22 03:51:32

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#3 2018-09-22 07:58:10

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#4 2018-09-28 20:27:02

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#5 2020-08-29 19:59:36

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#6 2020-12-06 21:44:27

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#7 2020-12-07 20:58:03

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#8 2020-12-07 20:58:54

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#9 2020-12-14 18:29:09

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#10 2022-06-10 10:40:40

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#11 2022-06-20 03:27:09

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#12 2022-06-20 08:00:02

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#13 2022-09-22 18:21:27

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#14 2022-10-11 09:48:09

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#15 2022-10-25 08:04:59

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#16 2022-11-05 18:20:08

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#17 2023-03-21 12:26:49

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#18 2023-06-17 10:07:18

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#19 2023-12-12 18:55:04

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

#20 2024-11-29 10:31:43

Re: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe

Board footer