Hayabusa 2 has landed on the asteroid and is collecting rocks and dust to take back home to Earth. Landing on a moving object in outer space is not an easy feat. Researchers are celebrating the achievement.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Jaxa
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Japan's Hayabusa 2 space probe made its second touchdown on a distant asteroid on Thursday June 11, in a bid to collect mineral samples that could reveal more about the solar system's evolution. Already on February 22, the "Falcon 2" had touched down on asteroid Ryugu for the first time.
Then, Hayabusa 2 touched down briefly on the Ryugu asteroid, fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection and blasted back to its holding position, said officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Later, in April, the space probe fired another bullet at the asteroid, stirring up more dust and creating a crater.
"We've collected a part of the solar system's history," project manager Yuichi Tsuda said at a jubilant press conference hours after the successful landing was confirmed. "We have never gathered sub-surface material from a celestial body further away than the Moon. We did it, and we succeeded in a world first."
The fridge-sized probe made its second landing on the asteroid at around 10:30 a.m. in Japan (0130 GMT), with officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) breaking into applause and cheers as initial data suggested the touchdown had been a success.
Confirmation of the landing came only after Hayabusa 2 lifted back up from the asteroid and resumed communications with the control room.
Research director Takashi Kubota told reporters that the touchdown operation was "more than perfect." And Tsuda, with a grin, said he rated it "1,000 points out of 100." "The probe moved perfectly and the team's preparation work was perfect," he said.
Hayabusa 2 had blasted off in December 2014 on a 3.2 billion-kilometer journey (equivalent to roughly 80,000 trips around the Earth's circumference) to Ryugu, which is named after a mythical Japanese underwater castle. The probe carried several landers that touched down on the asteroid in 2018 and collected information.
Among them: the "Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout" (MASCOT) landing vehicle, built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency CNES, that took images, investigated minerals, gauged surface temperatures and measured magnetic fields on the asteroid.
Samples from outer space
Hayabusa 2's mission is to collect asteroid dust and rocks to bring back to Earth. Researchers hope the information gathered will help them understand more about the origins of our universe.
An earlier Hayabusa mission from 2003 to 2010 was unable to collect as many samples as hoped from a different space rock, but still made history by being the first mission to bring back samples from an asteroid.
If all goes well, Hayabusa 2 will return to Earth with soil and rock samples in 2020, according to JAXA.
cb/fs (AFP, dpa)
Philae touchdown - one year on
Lander Philae has been on comet Chury since November 12, 2014. The landing did not go quite as smoothly as hoped. Throughout the past year, Philae only rarely made contact, but manged to send data nonetheless.
Image: ESA via Getty Images
One year ago: Rosetta, Philae together in pursuit of Chury
This twin team travelled through space together for 10 long years. In late summer 2014 spacecraft Rosetta and its lander Philae reached their target - Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In ever smaller orbits they were circling the celestial object - until the time was ripe for the landing operation.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ ESA/ATG medialab
Landing spot selected
Rosetta's OSIRIS camera took this picture of the landing spot on September 14 from a height of 30 kilometers (19 miles). The place had to be free of rocks, hills and valleys for Philae to land safely. Also, it had to be able to get enough sun for the batteries to recharge with the small solar panels on the lander - in order to maintain radio contact to Rosetta.
Image: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
This is how it should have been
The original plan was that Philae lands on its three legs, fires a Harpune into the comet and fixes itself with screws into the ice and rock. The engineers from the German Aeronautics and Space Research Center (DLR) knew that this would be a tricky task. The landing was the most vulnerable part of the whole operation. Would it succeed?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ESA/AOES Medialab
The travellers part - succesfully
The great moment came at 11:57 a.m local time in Darmstadt, Germany when European Space Agency (ESA) mission control received the signal from Rosetta. Philae had successfully departed and was on the way down to its final destination. Now the lander was all on its own.
Image: ESA/J. Mai
Saying good-bye to Philae
Rosetta took this picture shortly after launching Philae. Now the small landing robot is slowly descending towards the comet.
Image: ESA
Philae looking at his future home
Philae took this picture shortly before touchdown with its ROLIS camera - 40 meters above ground. There are rocks and gravel lying around. The big boulder in the upper corner of the picture is about five meters in diameter (15 feet).
Image: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR
Celebrating and then sobering up
When ESA received the signal that Philae had landed, the joy was huge. Shortly after that, mission control realized that everything was not just perfect: It became clear, that Philae was not properly standing on its three legs. Nonetheless, Philae generated a wealth of data from the comet - about its chemical composition and atmosphere - and transmitted it back to earth within the first days.
Image: ESA/J. Mai
Where is Philae?
Once his original battery charge was used up, Philae fell silent. Then it was up to the scientists to analyze the data and make their conclusions. In the meantime, Rosetta continued circling Chury and from time to time even managed to establish short connections with Philae - and send even more data to earth.
Image: CC-BY-SA-ESA/Rosetta/NavCam/IGO 3.0
Age-old oxygen found
The different instruments of Philae and Rosetta discovered all kinds of organic compounds. Most vapor was emitted during the fly-by at the closest proximity to the sun. This picture was taken in July and shows gas emissions. Swiss researchers from the University of Berne even found oxygen which from its nuclear composition indicated that it stemmed from the early times of the solar system.
ESA and DLR engineers are continuing their efforts to establish contact with Philae. They're hoping to find more data that is currently stored on Philae. Rosetta is now closing in on Chury again. It will then probably be easier to make radio contact. Throughout the first half of 2016 scientists are hopeful that Philae may be able to get enough sun to charge its batteries again.
