Japan's Hayabusa 2 Spacecraft Reaches Cosmic 'Diamond' (bbc.com)

A Japanese spacecraft has arrived at its target - an asteroid shaped like a diamond or, according to some, a spinning top. From a report: Hayabusa 2 has been travelling toward the space rock Ryugu since launching from the Tanegashima spaceport in 2014. It is on a quest to study the object close-up and deliver rocks and soil from Ryugu to Earth. It will use explosives to propel a projectile into Ryugu, digging out a fresh sample from beneath the surface. Dr Makoto Yoshikawa, Hayabusa 2's mission manager, talked about the plan now that the spacecraft had arrived at its destination. "At first, we will study very carefully the surface features. Then we will select where to touch down. Touchdown means we get the surface material," he told me. A copper projectile, or "impactor" will separate from the spacecraft, floating down to the surface of the asteroid. Once Hayabusa 2 is safely out of the way, an explosive charge will detonate, driving the projectile into the surface.

Comments

Ryu Hayabusa?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> Hayabusa 2 has been travelling toward the space rock Ryugu

Did someone intentionally sprinkle the name "Ryu Hayabusa" into mission? I have a bad feeling about this...

Re:Ryu Hayabusa?

[srmalloy]

The system requirements for a spacecraft that doesn't have to keep one or more humans alive inside it for the duration of the mission are so orders of magnitude smaller, because you can send them in low-fuel orbits that take years to reach their target. We still haven't worked out the logistics of a life-support system that's closed enough to make long-duration trips without resupply viable, and we are still working on the issues of long-term exposure to microgravity and radiation. Working with transmisison lag ranging from minutes to hours requires more 'intelligence' built into the craft, but protecting that from damage is a procedural problem, which existing probes have demonstrated is a reasonably well-solved concern.It doesn't make them the perfect substitute -- the issues with Philae attaching itself to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko resulting in its coming to rest in shadow where its solar panels were ineffective demonstrates this -- but we can put robotic probes out to distances far beyond where we could deploy and return a live crew.

Re:Ryu Hayabusa?

[SuricouRaven]

Robotic probes are cool and give good science, but still... it feels somehow like not pushing hard enough. There's a whole solar system out there to explore and exploit, and probes aren't going to do much exploiting. We should be out there to witness glorious new landscapes, then level them and build supermarkets on Mars.

Re:Ryu Hayabusa?

[religionofpeas]

With the current budget, a robotic probe is the best we can do. And even if the budget was 1000 times bigger, we could do a lot more with 100 advanced probes than with a single human mission.

Ryu-cy in the Sky, with diamonds

[Oswald McWeany]

The Beatles must be very happy. It's "Ryu-cy in the sky, with diamonds."

Re:So Some Anime Storyline Here?

[fish_in_the_c]

not until the probe disturbs the space creature that is inside the asteroid waking it up after millions of years and it can be seen flying towards the earth.
Then it is Anime ;)

*BOOM*

[Diakoneo]

Blowing up something space? Sounds like a job for the new Space Force!!!!

Re:So Some Anime Storyline Here?

[Applehu Akbar]

We have to warn Fort Charles that this is coming!