Hayabusa-2

The Ryugu asteroid (162173) , discovered in 1999, was chosen as the target (at the time of launch, it bore the temporary designation (162173) 1999 JU ₃ , received its official name in October 2015). At perihelion, its orbit enters the Earth’s orbit, and at aphelion it touches the orbit of Mars . Ryugu’s diameter is estimated at about 0.92 km — almost two times that of Itokawa’s asteroid , from which soil particles were delivered by the Hayabusa apparatus. The name for the asteroid was chosen taking into account the mission sent to it, it was taken from the Japanese fairy tale about the fisherman Urasima Taro , who visited the magical underwater castle-palace Ryugu-jo , the residence of the ruler of the sea element of the dragon Ryujin . From there, the fisherman brought home a mysterious paper box, presented to him by the daughter of a sea ruler. Thus, the plot of the tale echoes the task of the Hayabusa-2 probe to deliver a sample of soil from the asteroid to Earth whose composition is unknown ^[2] . The asteroid has a spectral class C (carbon asteroids), belongs to the group of Apollo .

Like the previous apparatus , Hayabusa-2 is equipped with ion engines . The new apparatus eliminated the problems identified during the previous mission. The device received new equipment designed to study a class C asteroid , to which Ryugu belongs.

The apparatus also has a Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) all-metal impact charge, consisting of a copper shell and an explosive charge to form the impact core . It is assumed that when approaching an asteroid the device will shoot this charge on the surface; at the bottom of the formed crater, scientists plan to detect other rock samples ^[3] .

Launchers

The MINERVA II-1 container contains bouncing robots Rover-1A and Rover-1B.

The MINERVA II-2 container contains a small MASCOT lander (abbreviated from the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout ), developed by the German Center for Aviation and Cosmonautics with the assistance of the French National Center for Space Research ^[4] . A spectrometer , magnetometer , radiometer and camera are installed on this apparatus, as well as a propulsion system, thanks to which the apparatus can change its location for further research ^[5] .

• On December 3, 2014, the Hayabusa-2 probe was launched from Tanegashima Cosmodrome ^[6] .
• On December 3, 2015, the Hayabusa-2 probe made a gravitational maneuver near the Earth , having traveled at a distance of 3100 km from it, and, having received additional acceleration, went to the asteroid 1999 JU ₃ (Ryugu) ^[7] .
• June 28, 2018 - approach to the asteroid (162173) Ryugu ^[8] .
• On September 21, 2018, the first ever successful soft landing of the Rover-1A and Rover-1B bouncing landing robot modules was made on the surface of the asteroid ^[9] . The first pictures were taken from them ^[10] .
• On October 3, 2018, the MASCOT module landed. MASCOT worked on the asteroid for more than 17 hours ^{[11] [12]} , during which time the module changed its location three times, successfully completed the planned studies of the composition of the soil and the properties of the asteroid, and transmitted the data to the orbiter ^[13] .
• On February 22, 2019, the Hayabusa-2 probe itself descended onto a relatively flat six-meter platform of a 900-meter asteroid. After taking soil samples, “Hayabusa-2” (by firing a tantalum rod into the asteroid and collecting fragments) again went into the orbit of a celestial body ^{[14] [15]} .
• On April 5, 2019, a 4.5-kilogram explosive charge was dropped onto the surface of an asteroid from a height of 500 meters to study the process of collision of other space objects with an asteroid ^[16] .
• On July 11, 2019, at about 1:30 GMT , the Hayabusa-2 probe re-landed on an asteroid 20 meters from the crater, which was formed when a bomb was dropped from the device to collect debris and take them to Earth ^{[17] [18]} .

Scheduled Events :

• Departure back to Earth - December 2019.
• Return to Earth with soil samples - December 2020 ^[19] .

Possible continuation of the mission :

• It is expected that after the capsule with soil returns to Earth, the main vehicle will have enough fuel left to fly around another near-Earth asteroid. The most likely candidate is (172034) 2001 WR1 (with a span of June 27, 2023).

• List of first landings on celestial bodies

• Asteroid explorer Hayabusa (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Archived on September 22, 2008.
• Agency's Report from ISAS / JAXA (unopened) (unreachable link) . Archived on June 14, 2007.
• Japanese authorities have decided to begin development of the Hayabusa-2 probe
• Hayabusa-2: preparations for the launch of a new asteroid expedition