APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5345
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by APOD Robot » Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:08 am

Image Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu

Explanation: Last month, humanity bounced a robot off an asteroid. The main reason was to collect a surface sample. Despite concern over finding a safely reboundable touchdown spot, Japan's robotic Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully touched down -- and bounced right back from -- asteroid Ryugu. Before impact, Hayabusa2 fired a small bullet into 162173 Ryugu to scattered surface material and increase the chance that Hayabusa2 would be able to capture some. Next month, Hayabusa2 will fire a much larger bullet into Ryugu in an effort to capture sub-surface material. Near the end of this year, Hayabusa2 is scheduled to depart Ryugu and begin a looping trip back to Earth, hopefully returning small pieces of this near-Earth asteroid in late 2020. Studying Ryugu could tell humanity not only about the minor planet's surface and interior, but about what materials were available in the early Solar System for the development of life.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

Boomer12k
:---[===] *
Posts: 2691
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:07 am

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by Boomer12k » Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:34 am

Touchdown!!!!! 6 points!!!! Now for the extra point...

Nice video...
:---[===] *

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by orin stepanek » Tue Mar 12, 2019 11:29 am

Amazing photography! 8-)
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
Astronymus
Science Officer
Posts: 146
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:26 pm
AKA: Astro
Location: Northern Alps

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by Astronymus » Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:19 pm

Science is amazing. :saturn:
»Only a dead Earth is a good Earth.«

User avatar
JohnD
Tea Time, Guv! Cheerio!
Posts: 1578
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:11 pm
Location: Lancaster, England

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by JohnD » Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:33 pm

That stirred up a storm of gravel!
But what draws the bits into the collection horn (just above centre view?)
A nice fan wouldn't help. Is the gravel charged? would an electric field draw them in?

John

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by MarkBour » Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:02 pm

Capture.png
Tame peregrine striking a red grouse, by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1920)
.

I read that "hayabusa" is the Japanese word for "perigrine falcon".

They certainly are going with a pretty inventive way to gather samples.
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by neufer » Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:47 pm

MarkBour wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:02 pm
I read that "hayabusa" is the Japanese word for "perigrine falcon".

Tame peregrine striking a red grouse, by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1920)

They certainly are going with a pretty inventive way to gather samples.
:arrow: Grose red perigrine falcon egg
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
MarkBour
Subtle Signal
Posts: 1377
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:44 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by MarkBour » Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:34 pm

JohnD wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:33 pm That stirred up a storm of gravel!
But what draws the bits into the collection horn (just above centre view?)
A nice fan wouldn't help. Is the gravel charged? would an electric field draw them in?

John
I guess they just expect a certain amount of the material to fall into the trough. They ran a bunch of simulations. :-)

The subsurface collection plan is also pretty simple. They're going to fire a larger blast at Ryugu and actually wait two weeks for the dust to clear, descend into the bottom of the crater they just made, and do the same thing we saw here, another tanatalum bullet, I guess, and catch debris that is kicked up at the bottom of the crater. Presumably it will be material interior to Ryugu.

We're not a very polite species. Shoot first, ask questions later.
Mark Goldfain

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu (2019 Mar 12)

Post by neufer » Thu Mar 14, 2019 10:20 pm

MarkBour wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:34 pm
JohnD wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:33 pm
That stirred up a storm of gravel!
But what draws the bits into the collection horn (just above centre view?)
A nice fan wouldn't help. Is the gravel charged? would an electric field draw them in?
I guess they just expect a certain amount of the material to fall into the trough. They ran a bunch of simulations. :-)

The subsurface collection plan is also pretty simple. They're going to fire a larger blast at Ryugu and actually wait two weeks for the dust to clear, descend into the bottom of the crater they just made, and do the same thing we saw here, another tanatalum [sic] bullet, I guess, and catch debris that is kicked up at the bottom of the crater. Presumably it will be material interior to Ryugu.

We're not a very polite species. Shoot first, ask questions later.
  • It would be a shame if the pristine asteroid material moved just out of Tantalum's grasp :!:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalum wrote: <<Tantalum is a chemical element with symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium.

The name tantalum was derived from the name of the mythological Tantalus, the father of Niobe in Greek mythology. In the story, he had been punished after death by being condemned to stand knee-deep in water with perfect fruit growing above his head, both of which eternally tantalized him. (If he bent to drink the water, it drained below the level he could reach, and if he reached for the fruit, the branches moved out of his grasp.) A. Ekeberg wrote "This metal I call tantalum ... partly in allusion to its incapacity, when immersed in acid, to absorb any and be saturated."
Art Neuendorffer

Post Reply