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.

Comments

Worst headline ever

[quenda]

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.

Re:Worst headline ever

[shanen]

Your correction of the story summary is accurate, but I really don't think that was the worst headline ever. Too much competition.

There was actually a story on NHK about the device. It involved a precision plate that was designed to deform into a near-sphere when the explosive charge was detonated. Then the 'ball' crashed into the asteroid, and they did observe flying debris, so they are pretty sure it worked. My main concern right now is where. If the crater is in a bad place, they may not be able to get close to it.

Seems like it would have made more sense to skip the plate and just detonate the explosive directly on the surface of the asteroid. I think that would have given them much better control over where the crater was created.