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Spacecraft Hayabusa2 Returns Photos of Asteroid Prior To Contact (syfy.com)
New submitter FranklinWebber writes: Spacecraft Hayabusa2 is approaching its target, asteroid Ryugu, after a three-and-a-half year trip. The Japan Aerospace Exporation Agency (JAXA) has released photos of the asteroid taken from a distance of several hundred kilometers and showing a diamond-shaped object.
Like its predecessor spacecraft a decade ago, Hayabusa2 is designed to collect samples from an asteroid and return them to earth. JAXA explains: "A C-type asteroid, which is a target of Hayabusa2, is a more primordial body than Itokawa [the target of Hayabusa and an S-type], and is considered to contain more organic or hydrated minerals.... we expect to clarify the origin of life by analyzing [samples from Ryugu]."
The Bad Astronomy blog has more discussion of the mission: "The spacecraft will deploy an impactor that will slam a 2.5 kilo piece of copper into the surface at 2 km/sec. This will dig down into the asteroid, revealing material underneath, which can then be analyzed to understand Ryugu's interior."
Like its predecessor spacecraft a decade ago, Hayabusa2 is designed to collect samples from an asteroid and return them to earth. JAXA explains: "A C-type asteroid, which is a target of Hayabusa2, is a more primordial body than Itokawa [the target of Hayabusa and an S-type], and is considered to contain more organic or hydrated minerals.... we expect to clarify the origin of life by analyzing [samples from Ryugu]."
The Bad Astronomy blog has more discussion of the mission: "The spacecraft will deploy an impactor that will slam a 2.5 kilo piece of copper into the surface at 2 km/sec. This will dig down into the asteroid, revealing material underneath, which can then be analyzed to understand Ryugu's interior."
I know that it is actually a pretty impressive feat to fly out there and take a photo of a small body object, but still... every time I see these photos that looks about as high rez as an original Nintento rendering, I can't help but think...Meh, is that really the best we can do?
Hayabusa is a type of falcon, so naturally it was used as the name of a number of products and projects over the years. I wouldn't say it's that popular though... Maybe Hikari is even more common. It means "light" so gets used for all sorts of things to do with illumination, fibre optic internet, high speed transport and is even a not too uncommon girl's name.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC