TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th July, 2019) Japanese asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 has successfully performed its second landing on the surface of asteroid Ryugu, Japanese space agency JAXA said on Thursday.

"July 11 at 10:51 JST [01:51 GMT]: Gate 5 check. The state of the spacecraft is normal and the touchdown sequence was performed as scheduled. Project Manager Tsuda has declared that the 2nd touchdown was a success!" JAXA wrote on the probe's Twitter.

A webcast on the JAXA website showed that the probe began descending from an altitude of 20 kilometers (13 miles) on Wednesday, aiming to land near a crater that it created in April by firing a bullet into the asteroid's soil.

During the touchdown, the probe will collect the samples of material released from firing the projectile into the surface for bringing them to Earth.

Scientists believe that the samples, which the Japanese probe will try to collect, may shed light on how the Solar System was created and how life appeared on Earth.

Hayabusa2 was launched in 2014 and is expected to return to Earth in 2020.

Ryugu is currently over 300 million kilometers away from Earth. </s> The Japanese space agency JAXA announced in August that its Hayabusa probe 2, which arrived at the 3,000-foot-wide asteroid Ryugu in June, will attempt to send a pair of special rovers to the surface of the extraterrestrial rock.

Now, after a lengthy space travel from Earth, the probe has finally deployed the two rovers called MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B, which were designed to study the asteroid. Space reported that the event happened on September 21, when the mother ship was about 180 feet above the rocks’ surface.

Landing probes on asteroids has proved difficult. The only probes that managed to have a soft touchdown on an asteroid are the original Hayabusa probe, which landed on the surface of the asteroid Itokawa in 2003; and NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous-Shoemaker spacecraft, which landed on asteroid Eros in 2001.

If all goes as planned, the Minerva-II1 probes would have drifted down to touch down on the dusty surface of Ryugu.

JAXA officials confirmed clear signals from the two rovers after their deployment, but they admitted having lost contact, which they attribute to the rotation of the asteroid.

Officials said that the MINERVA-II1 duo is currently on the far side of the asteroid and they are working to confirm images that capture the landing of the robots. It may take a couple more days to confirm that the rovers are ready to perform their scientific duties.

MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B carry with them a range of scientific gear, which includes seven cameras, as well as temperature and optical sensors. The probes were designed to hop from place to place on the surface of their target asteroid.

Mission members explained that gravity on the asteroid’s surface is weak, so a rover propelled by wheels or crawlers would float upwards once it starts to move.

“This hopping mechanism was adopted for moving across the surface of such small celestial bodies,” mission team members said.

The Hayabusa 2 mission, which was launched in 2014, will grab samples from Ryugu and return these materials to Earth. The goal of the mission is to learn more about the target asteroid and get a better understanding of what asteroids are made of.

Astronomers are keen on studying asteroids like Ryugu because these objects are believed to be remnants of the early solar system and remained relatively unchanged over the past 4.5 billion. </s> A pair of tiny JAXA robots, released by the Hayabusa2 probe, have successfully landed on the Ryugu asteroid and began transmitting images from the surface of the “potentially hazardous” object four years after the mission launch.

The first images from the astronomical object flying at some 300 million kilometers from the Earth were received by Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) immediately after the MINERVA-II1 rovers touched down on the asteroid on Friday.

The first image was taken after the separation of the two cylinder-shaped explorers from the Hayabusa2 space probe. Snapped while the rover was rotating, the blurred image shows Hayabusa2 at the top of the screen with the surface of Ryugu depicted at the bottom.

The second image received on Earth was captured by Rover-1B and shows a much clearer definition of the surface of Ryugu in the lower right corner, with sunlight reflection visible on the top left. The third image released by JAXA was snapped by Rover-1A as it hopped on the surface of its target, offering yet another glimpse of the mysterious object.

“MINERVA-II1 is the world’s first rover (mobile exploration robot) to land on the surface of an asteroid,” JAXA said. “This is also the first time for autonomous movement and picture capture on an asteroid surface.”

Measuring just 18-by-7cms and weighing about one kilo, MINERVA-II1 rovers will take advantage of Ryugu’s low gravity to hop about the surface of the asteroid, which is approximately one kilometer in diameter. The robots will take photos and temperature readings of Ryugu before Hayabusa2 space probe lands on the asteroid’s surface in 2019.

Hayabusa2 was launched in December 2014 and made its rendezvous with Ryugu in June this year. Once the probe completes taking samples from the asteroid, it will head back to Earth in late 2020.

Like this story? Share it with a friend! </s> TOKYO (AFP) - Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe touched down on a distant asteroid on Thursday (July 11), the country’s space agency said, on a mission to collect samples that could shed light on the history of the solar system.

“The control room received Doppler data showing that the probe appears to have touched down successfully,” Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) spokesman Takayuki Tomobe told Agence France-Presse.

“But Doppler only shows the speed and altitude so we will need definitive confirmation,” he added. Additional data readings are expected later in the day.

A successful landing on the Ryugu asteroid, about 300 million kilometres from Earth, would make it the second time the probe has touched down on the asteroid as part of a complex mission that has also involved sending rovers and robots.

A livestream of JAXA’s control room for the mission showed scientists standing nervously watching monitors with incoming data as the probe neared Ryugu.

As the data came in showing the apparently successful touchdown, agency officials broke into applause and shook hands with each other.

The much-anticipated touchdown was only brief, and intended to allow Hayabusa2 to collect samples blasted from beneath Ryugu’s surface.

The mission hopes the samples could provide insights into what the solar system was like at its birth, some 4.6 billion years ago.

To get at those crucial materials, an "impactor" was fired from Hayabusa2 towards Ryugu in April, in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid's surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere.

"This is the second touchdown, but doing a touchdown is a challenge whether it's the first or the second," Mr Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager, told reporters ahead of the mission.

"The whole team will do our best so that we'll be able to complete the operation," he said.

Hayabusa2's first touchdown was in February, when it landed briefly on Ryugu and fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection, before blasting back to its holding position.

The second touchdown requires special preparations because any problems could mean the probe loses the precious materials already gathered during its first landing.

A photo of the crater taken by Hayabusa2's camera shows that parts of the asteroid's surface are covered with materials that are "obviously different" from the rest of the surface, mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters.

The probe is expected to make a brief touchdown on an area some 20m away from the centre of the crater to collect the unidentified materials believed to be "ejecta" from the blast.

"It would be safe to say that extremely attractive materials are near the crater," Mr Tsuda said.

The touchdown will be the last major part of Hayabusa2's mission, and when the probe returns to Earth next year, scientists hope to learn more about the history of the solar system and even the origin of life from its samples.

"I'm really looking forward to analysing these materials," Mr Yoshikawa said.

The Hayabusa2 mission has attracted international attention, with Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May sending a video to the probe's team ahead of the landing.

"The world is watching. We love you, take care Hayabusa2," the iconic musician told the team.

At about the size of a large refrigerator and equipped with solar panels to keep it powered, Hayabusa2 is the successor to Jaxa's first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa - Japanese for falcon.

That probe returned with dust samples from a smaller, potato-shaped asteroid in 2010, despite various setbacks during its epic seven-year odyssey, and was hailed as a scientific triumph.

Hayabusa2's photos of Ryugu, which means "Dragon Palace" in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale, show the asteroid has a rough surface full of boulders.

The Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014, and has a price tag of around 30 billion yen (S$376 million). The probe is scheduled to return to Earth with its samples in 2020.

But its has already made history, including with the creation of the crater on Ryugu's surface.

In 2005, Nasa's Deep Impact project succeeded in creating an artificial crater on a comet, but only for observation purposes. </s> In this picture taken on July 10, 2019 a man walks past a screen displaying a computer-generated image of the Hayabusa2 probe, during a news broadcast at Akihabara district in Tokyo. Japan's Hayabusa2 probe landed successfully on a distant asteroid for a final touchdown on July 11, 2019, hoping to collect samples that could shed light on the evolution of the solar system. Source: Behrouz MEHRI / AFP

Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe landed successfully Thursday on a distant asteroid for a final touchdown, hoping to collect samples that could shed light on the evolution of the solar system.

“The touchdown is successful,” spokesman Takayuki Tomobe from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) told AFP.

The successful touchdown was greeted with cheering and applause in the JAXA mission control room, with officials grinning and shaking hands.

JAXA officials said earlier that the probe appeared to have landed successfully, but confirmation came only after Hayabusa2 lifted back up from the asteroid and resumed communications with the control room.

“All of us are relieved to see that the probe has resumed sending data from its antenna, which can send a large amount of data to us,” Tomobe said.

“This means that the probe is not in a serious condition,” he added.

The brief landing Thursday is the second time Hayabusa2 has touched down on the desolate asteroid Ryugu, some 300 million kilometres (185 million miles) from Earth.

The complex multi-year mission has also involved sending rovers and robots down to the surface.

Thursday’s touchdown was intended to collect pristine materials from beneath the surface of the asteroid that could provide insights into what the solar system was like at its birth, some 4.6 billion years ago.

To get at those crucial materials, in April an “impactor” was fired from Hayabusa2 towards Ryugu in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid’s surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere.

Hayabusa2’s first touchdown was in February, when it landed briefly on Ryugu and fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection, before blasting back to its holding position.

The second touchdown required special preparations because any problems could mean the probe would lose the precious materials already gathered during its first landing.

A photo of the crater taken by Hayabusa2’s camera after the April blast showed that parts of the asteroid’s surface are covered with materials that are “obviously different” from the rest of the surface, mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters before the latest touchdown.

The probe was expected to land briefing in an area some 20 metres away from the centre of the crater to collect the unidentified materials believed to be “ejecta” from the blast.

“It would be safe to say that extremely attractive materials are near the crater,” Tsuda said.

The touchdown is the last major part of Hayabusa2’s mission, and when the probe returns to Earth next year scientists hope to learn more about the history of the solar system and even the origin of life from its samples.

“I’m really looking forward to analysing these materials,” Yoshikawa said.

The Hayabusa2 mission has attracted international attention, with Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May sending a video to the probe’s team ahead of the landing.

“The world is watching. We love you, take care Hayabusa2,” the musician told the team.

At about the size of a large refrigerator and equipped with solar panels to keep it powered, Hayabusa2 is the successor to JAXA’s first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa — Japanese for falcon.

That probe returned with dust samples from a smaller, potato-shaped asteroid in 2010, despite various setbacks during its epic seven-year odyssey and was hailed as a scientific triumph.

Hayabusa2’s photos of Ryugu, which means “Dragon Palace” in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale, show the asteroid has a rough surface full of boulders.

The Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014, and has a price tag of around 30 billion yen ($270 million).

It has already made history, including with the creation of the crater on Ryugu’s surface.

In 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact project succeeded in creating an artificial crater on a comet but only for observation purposes. </s> Japan's Hayabusa 2 space probe made its second touchdown on a distant asteroid on Thursday June 11, in a bid to collect mineral samples that could reveal more about the solar system's evolution. Already on February 22, the "Falcon 2" had touched down on asteroid Ryugu for the first time.

Then, Hayabusa 2 touched down briefly on the Ryugu asteroid, fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection and blasted back to its holding position, said officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Later, in April, the space probe fired another bullet at the asteroid, stirring up more dust and creating a crater.

"We've collected a part of the solar system's history," project manager Yuichi Tsuda said at a jubilant press conference hours after the successful landing was confirmed. "We have never gathered sub-surface material from a celestial body further away than the Moon. We did it, and we succeeded in a world first."

The fridge-sized probe made its second landing on the asteroid at around 10:30 a.m. in Japan (0130 GMT), with officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) breaking into applause and cheers as initial data suggested the touchdown had been a success.

Confirmation of the landing came only after Hayabusa 2 lifted back up from the asteroid and resumed communications with the control room.

Research director Takashi Kubota told reporters that the touchdown operation was "more than perfect." And Tsuda, with a grin, said he rated it "1,000 points out of 100." "The probe moved perfectly and the team's preparation work was perfect," he said.

Hayabusa 2 had blasted off in December 2014 on a 3.2 billion-kilometer journey (equivalent to roughly 80,000 trips around the Earth's circumference) to Ryugu, whis named after a mythical Japanese underwater castle. The probe carried several landers that touched down on the asteroid in 2018 and collected information.

Among them: the "Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout" (MASCOT) landing vehicle, built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency CNES, that took images, investigated minerals, gauged surface temperatures and measured magnetic fields on the asteroid.

Hayabusa 2's mission is to collect asteroid dust and rocks to bring back to Earth. Researchers hope the information gathered will help them understand more about the origins of our universe.

An earlier Hayabusa mission from 2003 to 2010 was unable to collect as many samples as hoped from a different space rock, but still made history by being the first mission to bring back samples from an asteroid.

If all goes well, Hayabusa 2 will return to Earth with soil and rock samples in 2020, according to JAXA. </s> Tokyo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jul, 2019 ) :Japan's Hayabusa2 probe landed successfully Thursday on a distant asteroid for a final touchdown, hoping to collect samples that could shed light on the evolution of the solar system.

"The touchdown is successful," spokesman Takayuki Tomobe from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) told AFP.

The successful touchdown was greeted with cheering and applause in the JAXA mission control room, with officials grinning and shaking hands.

JAXA officials said earlier that the probe appeared to have landed successfully, but confirmation came only after Hayabusa2 lifted back up from the asteroid and resumed communications with the control room.

"All of us are relieved to see that the probe has resumed sending data from its antenna, which can send a large amount of data to us," Tomobe said.

"This means that the probe is not in a serious condition," he added.

The brief landing Thursday is the second time Hayabusa2 has touched down on the desolate asteroid Ryugu, some 300 million kilometres (185 million miles) from Earth.

The complex multi-year mission has also involved sending rovers and robots down to the surface.

Thursday's touchdown was intended to collect pristine materials from beneath the surface of the asteroid that could provide insights into what the solar system was like at its birth, some 4.6 billion years ago.

To get at those crucial materials, in April an "impactor" was fired from Hayabusa2 towards Ryugu in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid's surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere. </s> A hopping space probe which will land on the surface of a large asteroid has been launched by the Japanese Space Agency.

The agency's spacecraft released two small exploration robots in a research project to find clues to the origin of the solar system.

Both Minerva-II rovers were lowered from the unmanned Hayabusa2, on to the asteroid Ryugu.

The rovers move around by hopping, because the gravity on the asteroid makes rolling difficult. Each hop lasts 15 minutes.

The spacecraft travelled to the asteroid, which is 170 miles (280m km) from Earth, and arrived in June.

The space agency (JAXA) said it would know if the robots have landed on Saturday, when they will send confirmation data of touchdown.

If the mission is successful it will be the first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface.

The two robots will capture images of the asteroid and measure temperatures before the agency sends a larger rover in October.

Yuichi Tsuda, JAXA project manager said: "We are very much hopeful. We don't have confirmation yet, but we are very, very hopeful.

"I am looking forward to seeing pictures. I want to see images of space as seen from the surface of the asteroid."

Shortly after the launch, the agency's Twitter account for the lander wrote: "Breathtaking... just breathtaking, don't you think? Go MINERVA II1 rovers! You're on your way to #Ryugu … and I'm next!"

JAXA also revealed it had lost communication with the robots, writing: "Communication with MINERVA-II1 has currently stopped. This is probably due to the rotation to Ryugu, and MINERVA-II1 is now on the far side of the asteroid.

"We are currently working to confirm if there are images capturing the MINERVA-II1 landing."

Next month Hayabusa2 will deploy an impactor which will explode above the asteroid, to blast a crater into its surface.

The probe will then collect fresh materials from inside the crater which have not been exposed to wind and radiation.

Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 and is due back to Earth in 2020.

JAXA tried to launch a probe in 2005, but it failed to land on its target asteroid. </s> Unmanned craft – about the size of a large refrigerator – plans to collect ground samples, some 300 million kilometres from Earth

This article is more than 1 month old

This article is more than 1 month old

A Japanese spacecraft has successfully landed on a distant asteroid where it hopes to collect samples that could shed light on the evolution of the solar system.

Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) observing the landing from a control room on the southern island of Tanegashima applauded and made “V” for victory signs after the Hayabusa2 probe landed on the asteroid on Thursday morning local time.

“The touchdown is successful,” Jaxa spokesman Takayuki Tomobe said.

The agency said the probe had been working normally above Ryugu asteroid, some 300m km (185m miles) from Earth.

Its landing is the second time the probe has touched down on the desolate asteroid as part of a complex mission that has also involved sending rovers and robots.

HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) [PPTD] July 11 at 10:51 JST: Gate 5 check. The state of the spacecraft is normal and the touchdown sequence was performed as scheduled. Project Manager Tsuda has declared that the 2nd touchdown was a success!

The mission hopes to collect pristine materials from beneath the surface of the asteroid that could provide insights into what the solar system was like at its birth 4.6bn years ago. The agency said it would be the first time a probe has taken particles from below the surface of an asteroid.

To get at those crucial materials, in April an “impactor” was fired from Hayabusa2 towards Ryugu in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid’s surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere.

Jaxa said the samples could contain organic materials and water.

“This is the second touchdown, but doing a touchdown is a challenge whether it’s the first or the second,” Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager, told reporters ahead of the mission.

“The whole team will do our best so that we’ll be able to complete the operation,” he said.

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe to fire pellet at asteroid to obtain samples Read more

Hayabusa2’s first touchdown was in February, when it landed briefly on Ryugu and fired 5g pellet at more than 1,050km per hour (650mph) into the asteroid’s surface to puff up dust for collection, before blasting back to its holding position.

Thursday’s second touchdown required special preparations because any problems could have meant the probe lost the precious materials already gathered during its first landing.

The probe began its descent on Wednesday from its usual stationary position 20km above the asteroid, and is believed to have touched down on a targeted area located about 20 metres from the artificial crater’s centre.

During its brief time on the asteroid, Hayabusa2 collected samples from the crater formed in February via a tube that retrieved the unidentified “ejecta” as it floated up.

A photo of the crater taken by Hayabusa2’s camera showed that parts of the asteroid’s surface are covered with materials that are “obviously different” from the rest of the surface, mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters. “I’m really looking forward to analysing these materials.”

Tsuda said: “It would be safe to say that extremely attractive materials are near the crater.”

The probe will return to Earth next year, when scientists hope to learn more about the history of the solar system and even the origin of life from its samples.

At about the size of a large refrigerator and powered by solar panels, Hayabusa2 is the successor to Jaxa’s first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa – Japanese for falcon.

That probe returned with dust samples from a smaller, potato-shaped asteroid in 2010, despite various setbacks during its epic seven-year odyssey and was hailed as a scientific triumph.

Hayabusa2’s photos of Ryugu, which means “Dragon Palace” in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale, show the asteroid has a rough surface full of boulders.

The Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014 at a cost of around 30bn yen ($270m). It reached its stationary position above Ryugu in June last year after travelling 3.2bn km on an elliptical orbit around the sun for more than three years, according to Kyodo news agency.

If the rest of its historical mission goes to plan, Hayabusa2 will return to its landing site in Woomera, South Australia, at the end of 2020.

In 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact project succeeded in creating an artificial crater on a comet but only for observation purposes.
JAXA's Hayabusa2 space probe makes its second successful and final landing on Apollo asteroid 162173 Ryugu.