Contained in the purple circle is the shadow of the tiny goal marker Hayabusa2 used to scoop up a pattern of the asteroid.
JAXA
Earlier this month, July 10, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft touched down briefly on asteroid Ryuga to gather samples to take again to Earth. Now, because of new footage launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) we will witness the historic occasion happen.
It is wild.
This can be a 10x pace animation captured with the small monitor digital camera (CAM-H) throughout 2nd landing. CAM-H was put in by public donation — thanks everybody! Picture time: 2019/7/11 10:03:54 ~ 10:11:44 JST, at altitudes eight.5m ~ 150m. (? JAXA) https://t.co/ZrzegHABYU pic.twitter.com/owtaDxZx0m
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) July 26, 2019
Hayabusa2 had been chasing Ryuga, a diamond-shaped asteroid floating close to Earth, for over a yr earlier than firing a literal bullet at it to dislodge rock within the deeper areas of the asteroid. It then despatched a hopping lander to the floor to gather samples for examine.
As you may count on, touchdown on an asteroid is not any straightforward job, and watching the landing because it occurs is a uncommon deal with.
Hayabusa2 isn’t achieved but. The plan is to ship one other lander onto the asteroid, alongside ROVER-2, a small, light-weight robotic geared up with a thermometer and cameras. As soon as the lander is deployed, Hayabusa2 will start its return to Earth, flying previous our planet and delivering the pattern return capsule in December 2020.
