Earlier this month, Japan’s space agency JAXA launched an explosive projectile at the space rock known as Ryugu from its Hayabusa2 asteroid probe. Japan wanted to blow a crater into the surface of the rock in order to collect some samples of the material lying underneath, and early observations suggested it nailed its mark as planned. Now we can finally see exactly what the crater looks like.
To blow a hole in an asteroid without destroying the spacecraft itself — and without the force of the shot pushing Hayabusa2 back out into space — JAXA equipped the probe with explosive cannon-like charges that it releases into space above the asteroid’s surface. The probe them retreats to a safe distance, the single-shot explosive charge fires its bullet-like projectile at the surface, and the probe returns to the site later.
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This is our first look at the hole Japan blasted into an asteroid originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 25 Apr 2019 at 13:16:43 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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