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Japanese Spacecraft Drops Explosive On Asteroid To Make Crater (phys.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the bombs-away dept.

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.

24 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Very Human thing to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey look it flies in space! Let try bombing it!

  2. Worst headline ever by quenda · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Worst headline ever by shanen · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    2. Re:Worst headline ever by ghoul · · Score: 1

      How do you fund research into explosively formed projectiles (EFP) or as we call it in Iraq IEDs under a pacifist government? Say its for space research. The Japanese do a lot of this dual use shit. Their oil tankers are built with compartments which means they can easily be turned into aircraft carriers. They have a ton of nuclear plants which can let them make a nuke in 6 months if they decide to. Their satellite launch program is easily modified to an ICBM.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    3. Re:Worst headline ever by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Copper is not explosive. The whole impactor unit that was dropped was.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Worst headline ever by kenai_alpenglow · · Score: 1

      EFP != Improvised Explosive Device. IED can be anything from a stolen shell buried with a home-made trigger to some home-made explosives (careful, don't blow your hand off) with a Casio watch.

    5. Re:Worst headline ever by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2

      It was definitely explosive and the headline is entirely correct.

      "The explosive device, called the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI), was released from Hayabusa-2 on Friday. The SCI, a 14kg conical container, was packed with plastic explosive intended to punch a 10m-wide hole in the asteroid.

      Because of the debris that would have been thrown up in this event, Hayabusa-2 manoeuvred itself before the detonation to the far side of 800m-wide Ryugu - out of harm's way and out of sight." (BBC article)

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      This space intentionally left blank
    6. Re:Worst headline ever by careysub · · Score: 1

      Here is a link with a picture of the explosive unit used for this experiment. It is a copper self-forging projectile (using HMX as the explosive I have read elsewhere) made by SCI Pyrotechnics. Here are some cool pictures of it being tested. The 2.5 kg pure copper liner is fired at 2 km/s.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    7. Re:Worst headline ever by careysub · · Score: 2

      Here is a link with a picture of the explosive unit used for this experiment (don't know what happened with the first link paste-in). And an even cooler video of the test impact.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  3. Humans - the vandals of the universe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    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.

    1. Re: Humans - the vandals of the universe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Shut up, K'breel.

    2. Re: Humans - the vandals of the universe. by koki22 · · Score: 1

      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 explos https://xender.pro/ https://discord.software/ https://omegle.onl/

  4. What ancient evil will they reawaken? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nothing good can come of this.

  5. Live forever in infamy by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    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."
  6. History by darkain · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Remember the dinos? Well, WE SURE DO!" *BOOM*

    1. Re:History by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      "Remember the dinos? Well, WE SURE DO!" *BOOM*

      HA!! And don't forget to add: "and go back and tell all of your friends what's waiting for them." GRRRR.

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  7. space rays? by darthsilun · · Score: 1

    ...samples from underground that have not been exposed to the sun or space rays.

    WTF are "space rays."

    1. Re: space rays? by drewsup · · Score: 1

      This was where I list interest also.. Space Rays, you shoot them with your Buck Rogers pistol!

  8. Real News(tm) by sysrammer · · Score: 1

    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
  9. Self Defense? by ghoul · · Score: 1

    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**
  10. Could have taken a long time by Gabest · · Score: 1

    Since the asteroid has minimal gravity, the drop took probably years to reach it.

  11. We need a Space Force to ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... get the goddam copper!

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    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  12. Uh Oh... by yodleboy · · Score: 1

    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.

  13. Of course its Japan by Hentai007 · · Score: 1

    First Pearl Habor, now this...