Tag Archives: JAXA

In the Sky This Week – November 19, 2019

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This entry is part 123 of 133 in the series In the Sky This Week

In last week’s session of my after-school club, the Endeavour Space Academy, I ran the students through a very quick tour of the solar system using both NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System app, and the NASA Solar System Exploration website. Only a couple of the students knew anything at all about the solar system, so I covered the most important points in the 25 minutes available… I wish I had several more hours to cover everything! I asked the students if any of them knew about the Earth’s mid-ocean rifts – one said they were covering that in science class. I asked the student if she heard about the ecosystems that exist around the mid-ocean rifts, and extremophiles? I talked about the students about the possibility that similar sub-ocean rift systems might exist on several of the icy moons in the outer solar system, and what that might mean for the search for life. Saturn appears high above the … Continue reading →

Shadow of the Mothership

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This image showing the shadow of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on the surface of asteroid Ryugu just blew me away! Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample return mission operated by JAXA – the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The spacecraft has been surveying asteroid Ryugu for a suitable location to take a sample, and drop a couple of  unique rovers. The rovers are designed to move over the surface of the asteroid by hopping. As of this posting, the MINERVA-II1 rover is being deployed to the asteroid’s surface. [MINERVA-II1] The altitude of Hayabusa2 when this image was captured was about 80m! https://t.co/1PhAWx4f9u — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 21, 2018 [MINERVA-II1] 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. #asteroidlanding — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 21, 2018 Stay tuned!  … Continue reading →

Asteroid 162173 Ryugu from 40 Kilometers

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft is approaching asteroid 162173 Ryugu. The spacecraft has traveled nearly 3.2 billion km since its launch in December of 2014. The spacecraft and asteroid will meet in interplanetary space 280 million km from the Earth. Hayabusa2 on Twitter: Ryugu seen from between 220 ~ 100 km. Are we seeing the history of the asteroid etched on its surface? https://t.co/cNG1ZGsqlI pic.twitter.com/qqTEozetCV — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) June 21, 2018 Hayabusa2 will survey the asteroid for 18 months, looking for a suitable location from which to take a sample. A Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) with an explosive charge will be released by Hayabusa2 while it orbits the asteroid; this will remove the space-weathered surface of the asteroid at the target site to allow and a fresh sample to be collected. The spacecraft will depart the asteroid in December of 2019, and return its samples to Earth in December of 2020. Hayabusa2 will also deploy four small probes … Continue reading →