Video shows ‘treasure box’ on asteroid opened by Hayabusa 2
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Japan’s space agency released stunning footage of Hayabusa 2 touching down on the faraway Ryugu asteroid last month for its epic sample-collecting mission.
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The video, released March 5 and combining images taken by the probe’s camera, shows fragments of rocks and sand kicking up after the probe fired a bullet from a “sampler horn” device at the surface.
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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said Hayabusa 2 landed just one meter off its target on Feb. 22.
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The touchdown point has been dubbed the “tamatebako” (treasure box). In the Japanese folktale “Urashima Taro,” the hero receives the box as a gift at an underwater palace called “Ryugu-jo.”
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JAXA also announced that Hayabusa 2 will try to make an artificial crater on the asteroid in early April to collect rocks and sand from deeper within the surface. The samples could provide clues on how the solar system was formed
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If the mission succeeds, it will be the world’s first such sample collection from a small solar system body.
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As subterranean substances have not been affected by solar light or other elements, it is believed that they contain more water and possible organic matter than samples from the surface.
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The probe will try to create the crater near the asteroid’s equator by shooting a 2-kilogram copper mass at high speed from a “small carry-on impactor” device.
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In early April, the probe will separate the cylindrical device above the asteroid and an explosive inside it will be set off to fire the copper mass at the asteroid’s surface.
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Hayabusa 2 is expected to land near the crater in or after May to collect the samples churned up by the projectile’s impact.
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The probe’s initially planned third landing will unlikely happen.
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