Explanation: It looks like a big space diamond -- but with craters. It's 162173 Ryugu (Dragon's Castle), and Japan's robotic Hayabusa2 mission is now arriving at this near-Earth asteroid. Ambitious Hayabusa2 is carrying an armada of separable probes, including two impactors, four small close-proximity hoverers, three small surface hoppers, and the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) which will land, study, and move around on Ryugu's surface. Most of these are equipped with cameras. Moreover, Hayabusa2 itself is scheduled to collect surface samples and return these samples to Earth for a detailed analysis near the end of 2020. Previously, what was known about asteroid Ryugu was its orbit, that it spans about one kilometer, and that it has a dark surface that reflects unusual colors. Studying Ryugu could tell humanity not only about Ryugu's surface and interior, but about what materials were available in the early Solar System for the development of life. Pictured, a series of approach images shows features suggestive of large boulders and craters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2 wrote:
<<Hayabusa2's MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) was developed by the German Aerospace Center in cooperation with the French space agency CNES. It measures 29.5 cm × 27.5 cm × 19.5 cm and has a mass of 9.6 kg. MASCOT carries an infrared spectrometer, a magnetometer, a radiometer and a camera, and is capable of hopping to reposition itself for further measurements.
To remove the space-weathered surface and collect a fresh sample, Hayabusa2 carries the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI). It is a small drop-off explosively formed penetrator, consisting of a 2.5 kg copper projectile contained in a 4.5 kg shaped charge of plasticized HMX. The SCI impactor will be released by Hayabusa2 while orbiting the asteroid. A second instrument will then be deployed: the deployable camera (DCAM3). This camera will observe the explosion of the impactor that will strike the asteroid with a velocity of 2 kilometres per second. The crater formed by the impact and explosive charge will be the site of further observations by the spacecraft.>>
<<When the Phillie Phanatic rolled out onto the field at Citizens Bank Park on Monday night in the middle of the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the St. Louis Cardinals, fans jumped to their feet. The big green mascot came out with his hot dog launcher, and was about to launch them into the stands.
Kathy McVay was seated behind home plate when the Phanatic started shooting hot dogs into the crowd when suddenly one was headed straight for her head. “And then the next thing I know he shot it in our direction, and bam! It hit me like a ton of bricks,” McVay told ABC 6 in Philadelphia. “My glasses flew.” The hot dogs were wrapped in duct tape, so that they wouldn’t fall apart mid air. Except McVay told ABC 6 that she couldn’t catch the hot dog or knock it out of the air because of a shoulder injury that she is having surgery on next week. So the ballpark snack drilled her right in the face. McVay is an avid Phillies fan, too, and said she doesn’t plan to pursue any legal action. “Just to be aware, because you never know,” McVay told ABC 6. “I understand a baseball, but not a hot dog. It gives people a good laugh, and if that makes somebody chuckle, then that’s fine.”
Makes me wonder why we haven't landed telescopes/cameras/instruments on asteroids and let them travel to the far end of the solar system and send back images/data?
MountainJim wrote:
Makes me wonder why we haven't landed telescopes/cameras/instruments on asteroids and let them travel to the far end of the solar system and send back images/data?
Asteroids aren't going to any interesting places and it would take too much energy to capture them and divert them to some place interesting. Better to simply visit, explore, and return with a box.
<<Meteorites contain a record of accretion and impacts during all stages of asteroid origin and evolution; however, the mechanism of asteroid accretion and growth is not well understood. Evidence suggests the main growth of asteroids can result from gas-assisted accretion of chondrules, which are millimeter-sized spherules that form as molten (or partially molten) droplets in space before being accreted to their parent asteroids. In the inner Solar System, chondrules appear to have been crucial for initiating accretion. The tiny mass of asteroids may be partly due to inefficient chondrule formation beyond 2 AU, or less-efficient delivery of chondrules from near the protostar. Also, impacts controlled the formation and destruction of asteroids, and are thought to be a major factor in their geological evolution.>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicone wrote:
<<A bicone or dicone (bi- comes from Latin, di- from Greek) is the three-dimensional surface of revolution of a rhombus around one of its axes of symmetry. Equivalently, a bicone is the surface created by joining two congruent right circular cones base-to-base.>>
<<The various planets are thought to have formed from the solar nebula, the disc-shaped cloud of gas and dust left over from the Sun's formation. The currently accepted method by which the planets formed is accretion, in which the planets began as dust grains in orbit around the central protostar. Through direct contact, these grains formed into clumps up to 200 metres in diameter, which in turn collided to form larger bodies (planetesimals) of ~10 kilometres in size. These gradually increased through further collisions, growing at the rate of centimetres per year over the course of the next few million years.
A planetesimal is a solid object arising during the accumulation of planets whose internal strength is dominated by self-gravity and whose orbital dynamics is not significantly affected by gas drag. This corresponds to objects larger than approximately 1 km in the solar nebula.
Bodies large enough not only to keep together by gravitation but to change the path of approaching rocks over distances of several radii start to grow faster. These bodies, larger than 100 km to 1000 km, are called embryos or protoplanets.>>
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:41 pm
Is the axis of rotation of Ryugu such that the equator and poles line up with its rather biconic shape?
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:41 pm
Is the axis of rotation of Ryugu such that the equator and poles line up with its rather biconic shape?
That seems clear from the APOD's dozen images.
It does look that way, but seeing a time-laps series of photos showing it's actual rotation would be conclusive. Clearly this object is not nearly massive enough to become round due to gravity, but it's odd looking for the poles to be so elevated from its center. (Large rotating bodies are always somewhat flattened at the poles.)
Bruce
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.
This Earth crossing asteroid is being eyed for potential mining operations:
As of May 2018, according to the Asterank website, operated by Planetary Resources, the current value of Ryugu for mining purposes is speculated to be US$82.76 billion, and the chemical composition of the asteroid is claimed to be of nickel, iron, cobalt, water, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia.
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.
JAXA confirmed Hayabusa2, JAXA's asteroid explorer rendezvoused with Ryugu, the target asteroid.
On June 27, 2018, JAXA operated Hayabusa2 chemical propulsion thrusters for the spacecraft's orbit control.
The confirmation of the Hayabusa2 rendezvous made at 9:35 a.m. (Japan Standard Time, JST) is based on the following data analyses;
The thruster operation of Hayabusa2 occurred nominally
The distance between Hayabusa2 and Ryugu is approximately 20 kilometers
Hayabusa2 is able to maintain a constant distance to asteroid Ryugu
The status of Hayabusa2 is normal
From this point, we are planning to conduct exploratory activities in the vicinity of the asteroid, including scientific observation of asteroid Ryugu and surveying the asteroid for sample collection.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk. — Garrison Keillor
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:57 pm
This Earth crossing asteroid is being eyed for potential mining operations:
As of May 2018, according to the Asterank website, operated by Planetary Resources, the current value of Ryugu for mining purposes is speculated to be US$82.76 billion, and the chemical composition of the asteroid is claimed to be of nickel, iron, cobalt, water, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia.
You can imagine what wide scale asteroid mining will do to the metals markets. 16 Psyche is the prize here, it's a big chunk of iron and nickel and likely lots of other good stuff. Gold, silver, platinum, etc. prices would drop like crazy. Countries with gold stockpiles will find them comparatively worthless. I don't think any country would even try it considering these repercussions, or would at least divest well in advance.
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:57 pm
This Earth crossing asteroid is being eyed for potential mining operations:
As of May 2018, according to the Asterank website, operated by Planetary Resources, the current value of Ryugu for mining purposes is speculated to be US$82.76 billion, and the chemical composition of the asteroid is claimed to be of nickel, iron, cobalt, water, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia.
You can imagine what wide scale asteroid mining will do to the metals markets. 16 Psyche is the prize here, it's a big chunk of iron and nickel and likely lots of other good stuff. Gold, silver, platinum, etc. prices would drop like crazy. Countries with gold stockpiles will find them comparatively worthless. I don't think any country would even try it considering these repercussions, or would at least divest well in advance.
Almost everything the asteroid is made of is much, much cheaper to mine on Earth (and is generally abundant here). It's going to be a long time before asteroid mining is going to make sense for iron, nickel, or precious metals. I expect any movement in that direction will be towards rare earths, which are in increasing demand and are largely controlled by just a few countries.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory https://www.cloudbait.com
APOD Robot wrote:
Hayabusa2 is carrying an armada of separable probes, including two impactors, four small close-proximity hoverers, three small surface hoppers, and the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) which will land, study, and move around on Ryugu's surface.
APOD Robot wrote:
Hayabusa2 is carrying an armada of separable probes, including two impactors, four small close-proximity hoverers, three small surface hoppers, and the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) which will land, study, and move around on Ryugu's surface.
How do the hoppers hop?
Thanks Art. The JAXA website said the MASCOT can hop too, but only once. I assume that means it's not using reaction wheels for its motion or only has enough power to use them once? Anyway, it's a very clever means of moving about, especially in micro-gravity.
Hop Happy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:18 pm How do the hoppers hop?
Thanks Art. The JAXA website said the MASCOT can hop too, but only once. I assume that means it's not using reaction wheels for its motion or only has enough power to use them once? Anyway, it's a very clever means of moving about, especially in micro-gravity.
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:57 pm
This Earth crossing asteroid is being eyed for potential mining operations:
As of May 2018, according to the Asterank website, operated by Planetary Resources, the current value of Ryugu for mining purposes is speculated to be US$82.76 billion, and the chemical composition of the asteroid is claimed to be of nickel, iron, cobalt, water, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia.
You can imagine what wide scale asteroid mining will do to the metals markets. 16 Psyche is the prize here, it's a big chunk of iron and nickel and likely lots of other good stuff. Gold, silver, platinum, etc. prices would drop like crazy. Countries with gold stockpiles will find them comparatively worthless. I don't think any country would even try it considering these repercussions, or would at least divest well in advance.
Valid points, if such asteroidal material where to flood the markets. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest. The real usefulness of such a pile of materials would be out in space though, where it costs a great deal to launch anything into orbit.
BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:27 am
The real usefulness of such a pile of materials would be out in space though, where it costs a great deal to launch anything into orbit.
The real usefulness of such a pile of materials would be for local consumption by visitors/colonists.
Hayabusa2 Approaches Asteroid Ryugu
