Probe will make three landings on asteroid to collect rock samples to try and find clues about the development of the solar system and the origin of life
A Japanese space explorer arrived at an asteroid Wednesday after a 3½-year journey and now begins its real work of trying to blow a crater to collect samples to eventually bring back to Earth.
The unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft reached its base of operations about 20km (12 miles) from the asteroid and some 280 million km from Earth, the Japan Space Exploration Agency said.
Over the next year and a half, the spacecraft will attempt three brief touch-and-go landings to collect samples.
If the retrieval and the return journey are successful, the asteroid material could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.
The mission is challenging. The robotic explorer will spend about two months looking for suitable landing places on the uneven surface.
Because of the high surface temperature, it will stay for only a few seconds each time it lands.
The asteroid, named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale, is about 900 metres in diameter.
In photos released by JAXA, the Japanese space agency, it appears more cube-shaped than round. A number of large craters can be seen, which Project Manager Yuichi Tsuda said in an online post makes the selection of landing points “both interesting and difficult”.
