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Japanese Spacecraft Drops Explosive On Asteroid To Make Crater (phys.org)
William Robinson writes: The Hayabusa2 Japanese spacecraft on Friday dropped an explosive on the Ryugu asteroid (named after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale) to make a crater on its surface. The spacecraft safely evacuated and remained intact after dropping a "small carry-on impactor" made of copper onto the asteroid. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said that they plan to send Hayabusa2 back to the site later, when the dust and debris settle, for observations from above and to collect samples from underground that have not been exposed to the sun or space rays. If successful, it would be the first time a spacecraft has taken such materials. In a 2005 "Deep Impact" mission to a comet, NASA observed fragments after blasting the surface but did not collect them.
Hey look it flies in space! Let try bombing it!
The impactor was neither explosive nor dropped (gravity being insufficient). It was more like shooting the asteroid with a bullet, as far as I can tell.
Not content with destroying their own bio sphere they are now reaching out and destroying everything they can get near.
I put it before the galactic council that the humans be eradicated before they get a chance to spread their destructive influence any further.
sunlight is the best disinfectant, out you come windy
Nothing good can come of this.
Did they declare they were going to do it the day after they already did?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
There's no mention of the real story here. One we know, through direct empirical evidence, is more important than humanity landing on an asteroid or a comet. The real question here is: What kind of shirt was the spokesman wearing when he made the announcement?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
"Remember the dinos? Well, WE SURE DO!" *BOOM*
...samples from underground that have not been exposed to the sun or space rays.
WTF are "space rays."
One must keep a balance...
"So far, Hayabusa2 has done everything as planned, and we are delighted," mission leader Makoto Yoshikawa said earlier Friday. "But we still have more missions to achieve and it's too early for us to celebrate."
...and know where one has been...
Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on a small level area on the boulder-strewn asteroid in February, when it also collected some surface dust and small debris. The craft is scheduled to leave the asteroid at the end of 2019 and bring the surface fragments and underground samples back to Earth in late 2020.
...and to place a thing within its context...
The asteroid, named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale, is about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
I thought the Japanese constitution forbid them from sending armed forces outside Japan. So they wont send peacekeepers to Africa but robot drones bombing asteroids is OK? Just kidding
**Life is too short to be serious**
Since the asteroid has minimal gravity, the drop took probably years to reach it.
... get the goddam copper!
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Altering it's orbit by a tiny amount, ensuring the destruction of all humanity in the distant future. Maybe we can get some oil drillers to save us. Freeze Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis ASAP.
First Pearl Habor, now this...