On November 13 , Japan ’s groundbreaking asteroid adventurer Hayabusa-2 will set out its journey back to Earth leave behind its mission prey , asteroid Ryugu , behind . After a twelvemonth and a half surveying the asteroid , it will break innocent of its debile gravitational wrench by November 18 , and next calendar month will use its thruster to push itself on its homecoming trajectory .
The spacecraft take 3.5 years to get to asteroid Ryugu , but give the comparative status of the space rock and Earth , the restitution journey is require to be much shorter . Hayabusa-2 will fly by Earth in December 2020 and deliver its precious cargo – thefirst - ever sample of sub - surface material from an asteroid – knock off them somewhere in the south Australian desert .
In its 17 months around the asteroid , the craft successfully delivered thefirst - ever wanderer to land on an asteroid , which send back thefirst - ever images taken on the surface of an asteroid , as well as get elaborated analysis of the supernal dead body and collecting three soil samples : two from the airfoil and one fromdeeper in the land . The workmanship had to shoot a 2.5 - kilogram ( 5.5 - Sudanese pound ) bullet into the rock to uncover sub - surface debris , collecting the first sample distribution of material from beneath the soil of an asteroid .
Though Hayabusa-2 ’s commission has get along to an end , it will not stop providing exciting data just yet .
“ We require Hayabusa-2 will provide new scientific knowledge to us , ” project manager Yuichi Tsuda said in a jam conference as account inAFP . “ I ’m feeling half - distressing , half - compulsive to do our good to get the investigation home . Ryugu has been at the heart of our quotidian life for the past twelvemonth and a half . ”
The mission , which has lasted six eld so far , has far exceeded expectations – and that ’s even before the three sample are analyzed back on Earth . We have many more age of scientific information on Ryugu waiting for us .
Though the craft ’s missionary post is due to end at the end of next year when it gets unaired enough to Earth to cut down off its samples , it may not be the end for Hayabusa-2 . The probe will still have plenty of fuel , and the team at JAXA , Japan ’s Aerospace Exploration Agency , is currently investigating what might come next .
It is potential that the spacecraft will be sent back further into rich space to investigate another asteroid . If that happens , Hayabusa-2 will become one of the few investigation to have visit multiple bodies in the Solar System .
[ H / T : AFP ]
