Skip to main content

Japanese space probe to begin exploring asteroid Ryugu

Animation: Asteroidlander MASCOT on board Hayabusa2

After a 42-month journey through space, the Japanese probe Hayabusa 2 has finally reached its destination — a rocky little cube named Ryugu, formally known as Asteroid 162173, some 200 million miles from Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed the arrival of the spacecraft in an announcement earlier this week.

Recommended Videos

During its 18-month mission, the space probe will analyze the tiny rock with a series of tests, deploying three miniature rovers to the surface. Before leaving, it will even blast a new crater into the surface, gather up some of the material dislodged, and then return to Earth with the samples aboard.

Rise and shine @MASCOT2018 ! It's a new day and we have arrived at #Ryugu! Take a look… #hayabusa2 pic.twitter.com/5erImiqeOi

— haya2kun (@haya2kun) June 28, 2018

The asteroid was named after a dragon’s palace from a Japanese folk tale. In the story, a Japanese fisherman emerges from the undersea lair with a box filled with treasure.

It’s technically classified a near-Earth object (NEO), as it orbits in an elliptical path from Mars to Earth and back again. There’s no chance it will strike the Earth, however, at least not in the next few hundred years.

The spacecraft used its thrusters to maneuver into a stable orbit within 12 miles of Ryugu, where it began to analyze the asteroid for the rest of its mission. Ryugu, strewn with boulders, is roughly diamond-shaped and features an equatorial ridge. As Earth Sky points out, it’s similar in appearance to the asteroid Bennu, the target that the NASA Osiris-REx mission will encounter in 2020.

The mission, which was launched in December 2014, carries four small landers. Three are from Japan (called MINERVA-II) and one is from Germany (called MASCOT-1, for Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout). These aren’t the conventional rovers you’re familiar with, like the ones taking selfies on Mars. Because the half-mile-wide Ryugu has very low gravity, the small landers have only the weight of a drop of water here on Earth.

So the landers don’t have wheels — instead, the small foot-wide boxes have internal offset weights that allow them to “flop” across the surface with short hops.

Hayabusa 2 will also get to blow some stuff up while it’s there. Using a “space cannon,” the probe will blast a copper projectile at the surface to create a landing crater and expose material from beneath the surface. During a brief touch-and-go landing on the surface, the probe will scoop up some of the debris and store it for the return voyage.

In 2020, the probe will drop the samples in a saucer-shaped reentry capsule which will land via parachute in Australia.

“Together with all of you, we have become the first eyewitnesses to see asteroid Ryugu,” said project manager Yuichi Tsuda. “I feel this is an amazing honor as we proceed with mission operations.”

Mark Austin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mark’s first encounter with high-tech was a TRS-80. He spent 20 years working for Nintendo and Xbox as a writer and…
Mazda confirms a hybrid CX-5 and electric SUV are on the way
mazda hybrid cx 5 electric suv 2024 arata concept 4

Mazda might be making headway in the pursuit of bringing back an electric vehicle (EV) stateside.

Ever since it discontinued the MX-30 EV in the U.S. last year, the Japanese automaker has had zero EV offerings for potential U.S. customers.

Read more
Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders
Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition

Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

Read more
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more