The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency has just recently fired a slightly-bigger tennis ball-sized copper cannonball right into a near-Earth asteroid with the name Ryugu to learn more about its competition.
After a year, the scientists initiated the cannonball, and they eventually analyzed the data which was captured by the cameras onboard the spacecraft for them to learn a bit more about the asteroid about 195 million miles away.
What was on the Hayabusa 2?
The probe had deployed a small carry-on impactor that was packed with plastic explosives that would, later on, blast a crater right on the asteroid. Shortly after the SCI deployed from the asteroid's orbit, the Hayabusa2 then moved into a safe strategic distance from the blast site for it to be observed better according to the agency.
A small camera called the DCAM3, was then released- it was s used to capture the whole detonation before floating an estimate of a half-mile away.
The samples are being brought back to Earth
The impact was able to create a nearly 33-foot wide crater right on the very surface of the asteroid, according to the study. The camera captured in specific detail, plume metal, was sent up upon impact.
The journal Science was the host for this study to be published on Thursday, Mar. 19. The additional findings of the composition of the asteroid were published in the journal Nature on Monday, Mar. 16.
Details of the artificial crater created
A semicircle was left behind by the crater, which included an elevated rim, a central pit, and also an asymmetrical pattern of ejected material. The researchers believe that this pattern could be caused by a larger boulder located beneath the crater.
Once researchers were able to assess the material, they came to a belief that Ryugu also includes material that quite similar to Earth's very own loose sand. The plume of material which was created by the strong impact had not yet fully detached from the surface and researchers think that this is because of the asteroid's gravity.
The findings of the study
The rocks that were studied are similar to carbonaceous chondrites that are considered primitive meteorites. Scientists found in some of these rocks were small colored materials that could contain certain minerals just like olivine. Aside from this, carbonaceous chondrites were also found!
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According to Matthias Grott, author of this study and an expert at the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Planetary Research, "Fragile, highly porous asteroids like Ryugu are probably the link in the evolution of cosmic dust into massive celestial bodies."
"This closes a gap in our understanding of the planetary formation, as we have hardly ever been able to detect such material in meteorites found on Earth," Grott added.
Conclusion
The researchers have found it to be highly possible that the rich porous structure of carbon-rich asteroids has a great resemblance to planetesimals, which is the material which eventually became the very planets found in our solar system. This study has helped researchers get one step closer to understanding how the solar system began.
