Landing in a hostile world
Landing in a hostile world
Hayabusa 2 initiates the preparations for the future sampling of Ryugu.
It is becoming the celestial body with the largest number of robotic explorers on the surface. Since his arrival, the probe has launched the two small Minerva, still operational, and the module MASCOT, that the eternal dream already sleeps after successfully fulfilling its mission. And there is still another Minerva waiting for your turn. But at the beginning of next year it will be the probe itself that will proceed to graze the asteroid to take samples. A complex and difficult operation, especially because Ryugu It is revealing itself as a place that is not a friend of visits.
And the operations to prepare the road have already begun. After reducing the possible landing sites, at 0247 GMT this past October 25 Hayabusa 2 descended to a height of 12 kilometers) on the
surface of the asteroid and displayed a small target marker in
the landing site, which will serve as a point of reference when the time comes. And you will need it, since the picture is not intuitively simple.
When the first detailed images of Ryugu in June, the
scientists were surprised to find that it is basically a
group of debris instead of a soft and dusty space rock
as the asteroid Itokawa (who visited the first Hayabusa in
2005) and Eros."That
it was the moment when we realized that it was not going to be a mission
easy", Explain Masaki Fujimoto, from JAXA."The rocky surface of Ryugu is not friendly
with the mission", Add.
The
scientists from Hayabusa 2 they were not prepared for the
lack of safe landing sites, because they based their
expectations in past experience, recognizes
Fujimoto. "It is not easy to reveal the stupidity in which we have
been, but we thought we had a good experience with Itokawa
... and that there was a smooth surface on the surface, and we think that
should be. There could be some rocky part but there should be a softer part and that was the expectation""This
is part of the reason why we explore: To see the unexpected,
go ahead, move on and do what we plan"Said Deborah Domingue, a scientist at
Hayabusa 2 at the Planetary Science Institute."Our expectations are never met wherever we go, and that's what's exciting. That is the challenge"
For
find possible places to perform that critical maneuver, they got up topographic models of the surface using
images of the modules Minerva Y MASCOT and they looked for
softer areas."They are almost rocks everywhere"Said Lucille Le Corre, a participating scientist at the Planetary Science Institute."There are not many areas that are smooth" further
of the images, scientists are using the
infrared thermal camera to learn more about the
size and other properties of materials on the surface.
The team began by selecting a landing area
square that measures about 180 meters wide, and recently
they have reduced it to a circle of 20. Now,
the next step is to work to improve the navigation precision
of the probe "so I can make a Hole in one", said Fujimoto using an expression of the world of golf. Due
to what Ryugu is about to pass around the opposite side of the Sun,
causing the contact with Earth to be temporarily lost, "that leaves us two months for the team to think about the details of the
contact making operations" The great challenge of Hayabusa 2, faced with a small world clearly hostile to his intention to touch him directly, just start now.
Images captured by the optical navigation camera. They were taken on October 15, 2018 in a lake period over one hour. The probe altitude when the first image was taken is about 240 m, the image of the lowest altitude is about 47 m and the altitude in the final image is about 370 m.
Moment of minimum distance, 47 meters. Surrounded by a red circle, the current candidate to try the "landing" of Hayabusa 2 in Ryugu.
The "horn" of the sample collector Hayabusa 2, already deployed and captured on August 14 captured with the Small Monitor Camera on August 14, 2018.
The objective markers of Hayabusa 2, small white balls of approximately 10 centimeters in diameter. Is it so
covered by a reflective film to make them visible for the probe, and that will use them to navigate during its descent.
Hayabusa2 Braces for a Rocky Landing on Asteroid Ryugu
Sequential images captured during Ryugu approach operation
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