Space, the final frontier. The mysteries that the universe still hides will always attract us. Space missions do not point to the moon as much as to stars, black holes and asteroids. Landing on an asteroid is already quite complicated. Extracting material from the ground is much more difficult. But it is what recently achieved a space mission, landing on an asteroid.
Japan landing on an asteroid
It was the robotic spaceship of the Hayabusa2 mission of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He landed yesterday on the asteroid Ryugu. It is about 900 meters in diameter. It is located more than 300 million kilometers away from Earth. The controlled landing, carried out late but as planned, has been brief. The space probe gradually descended. When the sampling tube has come into contact with the asteroid surface, a tantalum shell has fired. After the explosion, he collected the ejected material. At 7:48 (Japan Standard Time), JAXA has confirmed that "the spacecraft has begun to ascend as planned." Already with the small samples of the asteroid Ryugu inside, you will return to Earth. But it will still collect other samples that it will take soon, at the end of the year 2020.
Touchdown
«The hand of humanity has reached a new and small celestial object. Taking into account the different scenarios, it has landed in the best possible conditions ». Says Yuichi Tsuda, the project director, according to The Asahi Shimbun. "The touchdown It has been a success, including projectile firing, ”he added. The Hayabusa2 space probe will have to make two other controlled landings. The last one will drop an impactor that will create an artificial crater on the surface of the asteroid. It aims to obtain subsoil material. The Japanese mission aims to explore and take samples of the asteroid Ryugu. They hope to "elucidate the interactions between minerals, water and organic matter in the early solar system," landing on an asteroid.
That, they say, will allow "to learn about the origin and evolution of the Earth, the oceans and life," explains JAXA in a press kit of the Hayabusa2 project.
And so humanity will continue, going further and further.
