In December 2014, JAXA launched the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, whose goal is to study the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu and deliver samples of its soil to Earth. As planned, the probe arrived at its destination in June 2018 and began to study the space time capsule.
Since Hayabusa2’s time since the asteroid entered orbit, it has collected a huge amount of images and other data that give researchers hints about the history of Ryugu, its shape, composition, mass, rotation, geological properties and other characteristics. These details, in turn, allow scientists to better assess the number and types of materials necessary for life, which were present in the solar system in the era of the formation of the Earth.
The earth was shaking. My heart pounded. The clock counted 3, 2, 1. Take off! I have never felt so excited and nervous at the same time, it was not just another scientific experiment, it was the culmination of my life and the hopes and dreams of my whole team,.
-Seiji Sugita, chief investigator of the mission from Tokyo University (Japan)
Since the spacecraft arrived at the 900-meter Ryugu, it has been observing the asteroid using a wide range of cameras and image collection tools and object data, which the probe constantly sends to researchers. Recently, Hayabusa2 even made a short one-second test landing on an asteroid, the purpose of which was the first of three regolith fence.
Just a few months after we received the first data, we already made some interesting discoveries. The main one is the amount of water on the asteroid, or rather its strange absence. Ryugu was much drier than we expected, and, considering its relative youth, only about 100 million years old, this tells us that the asteroid’s parent body was also largely devoid of water.
-Seiji Sugita
This conclusion has serious consequences, since it is believed that all the water of the Earth entered our planet from asteroids, distant comets and a dust cloud, the main part of which eventually became the Sun. Confirming the presence of “dry” asteroids in the Main Belt will change the models used to describe the chemical composition of the early Solar system. But why is this important?
A life. It matters for the search for life. There are countless star systems and our results will help clarify the models that should highlight those that we should be guided by when searching for it. It is worth noting that the matter is not only in water: there are other compounds important for life on asteroids.
-Sage Sugita
Hayabusa2 is not the only spacecraft that is currently exploring an asteroid. In 2016, NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx probe, which arrived at its target asteroid Bennu in December 2018.
The teams of both missions actively exchange information and data. Researchers are comparing their asteroids to find out even more than would be possible if they could only study one. Despite the fact that Bennu and Ryugu are very similar, in some areas they differ significantly, for example, the second has much less water. This discrepancy makes astronomers wrestle.
I was hoping that the surface of the Ryugu would be more diverse, as previous ground-based observations suggested. But every surface detail and boulder on it seems to be similar and demonstrate a shortage of water.
-Seiji Sugita
While Hayabusa2 continues to explore our little rocky neighbor, astronomers are gradually revealing its history, bit by bit, which is intertwined with the history of the Earth. For example, they have already managed to calculate that Ryugu is a descendant of an asteroid measuring several tens of kilometers. At the same time, given its low density, it, according to the researchers, is a pile of rubble held by gravity, thrown out during the catastrophic destruction of its ancestor, as well as the material that “sticks” to it later.
Much of this is true for the 500-meter asteroid Bennu. It also has a low density, is a remnant of a large asteroid from the Main Belt, and was formed from its fragments, which can still be seen on its surface, and as a result of rapid rotation it acquired the shape of a top, like Ryugu. Its main difference, as already mentioned above, is a relatively high water content, and, according to the latest data, a more respectable age, which is now estimated from 100 million to 1 billion years. Seven studies based on Bennu’s first observations.
First results JAXA and NASA missions to asteroids
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