Japanese Spacecraft Rovers land on an Asteroid

[Max Rockatansky]

Japan can't attack anyone, by NATO decree.

Japan can't attack anyone, due to the provision of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, variously attributed to Allied Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur, and Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, and implemented by the Diet on November 3, 1946.

He's my favorite. Bomb north of the Yalu Arthur. Whatta way to get clearance for his "Old Soldiers never die" speech to Congress. Always the one to find a way to get his medals burnished

Still, his years in Japan are probably the most important years spent by any American in the twentieth century

So if it's a bullet or a bomb it's gotta be for war, right? Damn cleaver, those Japanese.

MacArthur had his flaws, but he also had his genius. Japan wouldn't be as successful as it is today without his post-war stewardship.

 

[lpetrich]

Shadow Selfie! Japanese Asteroid Probe Snaps Amazing Post-Landing Pic | Space

A Japanese asteroid probe commemorated its successful sample grab with a stunning post-landing photo.

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft captured the image on Thursday (Feb. 21), just a minute after it briefly touched down on the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, blasted a metal "bullet" into the space rock, collected some of the ejected debris and rose into space once again.

It was about 25 m / 82 ft above that asteroid, its shadow is clearly visible, and the nearby dark spot is the landing site. In the next few months, it will collect some more samples. It has deployed a lander and two hopper rovers, and it has a third hopper that it may deploy. After that, it will return home, with a capsule arriving with the samples around December 2020. In that year, NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe will collect samples from the asteroid Bennu, and return home in mid-2023.

 

[steve_bank]

OMG. They nudge it, it hits another then another and the next thing you know an asteroid hits Earth an wipes us out.

Jape does not need a wall, surrounded by a lot of water. And if want to see a nationalist ethnic culture, try Japan.

I'm unsure why your second point is relevant at all to a discussion about this particular topic. It does, however, make sense as a bullet-point on an agenda. Can we not have non-political discussions here?

I am not sure either. All I remember is the first part.

 

[lpetrich]

Hayabusa 2’s asteroid touch-and-go comes to life in dramatic new video – Spaceflight Now

A camera riding on Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft recorded stunning views of the probe’s final descent to asteroid Ryugu last month, showing the rocky debris kicked up by the robot explorer’s touch-and-go landing to collect a sample for return to Earth.

The on-board camera observed Hayabusa 2’s sampling horn contact Ryugu’s gravelly surface Feb. 21, when the spacecraft briefly touched down and fired a tantalum bullet into the asteroid, blasting bits of rock and powder into the probe’s sample collection chamber.

That video was run at 5X speed. But the spacecraft's operators are confident that they have acquired some samples, so they have commanded the spacecraft to seal its sample container.

The spacecraft will make a small crater in Ryugu, go for another sampling run, deploy its remaining lander, and late this year, depart the asteroid for a landing in Australia in late 2020.

 

[lpetrich]

Japanese scientists think they know where the Ryugu asteroid came from – BGR noting The geomorphology, color, and thermal properties of Ryugu: Implications for parent-body processes | Science

The near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu is thought to have been produced from a parent body that contained water ice and organic molecules. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft has obtained global multi-color images of Ryugu. Geomorphological features present include a circum-equatorial ridge, east/west dichotomy, high boulder abundances across the entire surface, and impact craters. Age estimates from the craters indicate a resurfacing age of ≲10^6 years for the top 1-meter layer. Ryugu is among the darkest known bodies in the Solar System. The high abundance and spectral properties of boulders are consistent with moderately dehydrated materials, analogous to thermally metamorphosed meteorites found on Earth. The general uniformity in color across Ryugu’s surface supports partial dehydration due to internal heating of the asteroid’s parent body.

Meaning that it must have condensed farther out in the Solar System than where it now orbits.