Japan's space explorer Hayabusa2 arrives at asteroid to collect samples

Godspeed, Hayabusa2!

Our solar system is chock full of amazing objects and processes; learning a bit about them enhances our ability to understand the forces at work in our immediate environment.

Named after my last motorbike.......

Its an incredible feat being able to do something as difficult as this - like hitting a bullet with another bullet ....from 170 million miles away.

I have to wonder if they have considered whether their screwing with this asteroid will alter its trajectory making dangerous for us

I have to wonder if they have considered whether their screwing with this asteroid will alter its trajectory making dangerous for us

That would be hard enough to do on purpose, much less accidentally.

Its an incredible feat being able to do something as difficult as this - like hitting a bullet with another bullet ....from 170 million miles away.

Yup. Degree of difficulty is pretty high.

Well done to all involved.

Yet according to some JT experts Japan would be hard pressed to place a man in space (as China did 50 years later), or even lob a few missiles towards Beijing, if push comes to shove.

Not so much a speeding bullet though. With an escape velocity of less than 1 m/s, Hayabusa2 latterly closed in on Ryugu at a speed of only 40 cm/s in order to be captured by its (very low) gravity. It will be quite a challenge for the rovers to stay put on the surface when they want to. Rather like the problem the Philae lander had on comet 67P when it bounced on arrival.

This is the 2nd mission of this type from Japan. The first returned bits from a different asteroid in 2010.

I can just imaging the rovers "hopping" around in the tiny gravity.

Cool stuff to be sure.

Good at least some people still use their technology for space exploration

Wonderful! Japan MUST continue to be a world leader in tech and innovation. Our survival depends on it.

In case there are aliens there already, at least Hayabusa2 has a friendly face... two small circular eyes, big yellow nose and large white circular ears on top.

"Not so much a speeding bullet though. With an escape velocity of less than 1 m/s, Hayabusa2 "

That's incorrect. 

"Hyabusa was sent off at a top speed of 11.8 Kilometres per second (relative to Earth)"

http://spaceflight101.com/hayabusa-2/hayabusa-2-first-images-ryugu/

At the speed you've quoted how long do you think it would take to reach an asteroid located at 280 million kilometres from earth?!  A millennium?

Awesome engineering, tech and planning....Well done guys. Stuff like this gives me a great sense of pride in humanity and what we can achieve if we really put our minds together. Imagine if we did this for the betterment of the world and its inhabitants.

That will be good planning to have space stations on asteroids to travel other planets in future. Yamanote line in space will be very punctual time table.

Peepingtom

Thank you. That's why I said 'latterly' the speed of was so slow, relative to Ryugu. Of course it had to escape Earth's gravity at high speed when it left 3 years ago, but since June 20th this year it was creeping up on the asteroid at only 0.4m/s so that it didn't go whizzing past.

See http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/0621-hayabusa2-update-new-views.html if you want confirmation of that figure.

Jonathanjo

Thanks for clarifying.

However, it's still akin to a bullet to bullet strike, even more delicately.

It would be like shooting an AK-47 and then controlling the bullet in mid-air, determining when and how it would fly.

This is no mean feat and can only mean one thing: the Japanese are not to be messed about with. They're well capable of building an aircraft carrier and call it a destroyer, fooling many a JT expert.

Did it arrive on time as predicted? I bet it did!