The Hayabusa-2 station removed the surface of the asteroid Ryuga

The Hayabusa-2 station removed the surface of the asteroid Ryuga

The Japanese automatic interplanetary station "Hayabusa-2" managed to capture the asteroid Ryuga from a height of approximately 1,000 meters.

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Before reaching the minimum height, Hayabusa-2 took asteroid shots with the Optical Navigation Camera (ONC-T cameras and ONC-W1 wide-angle cameras). The probe captured Ryuga from a height of approximately 1,250 meters (the first pair of images) and from a height of about 1,000 meters (the second pair).

A picture taken by the ONC-T camera at an altitude of about 1,250 meters | Source: JAXA

The Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 was launched in December 2014. Now that the device has already reached Ryuga, he will have to study the object: first, he will map the asteroid using an on-board camera and an infrared spectrometer - this information will determine where to land the MASCOT landing module, equipped, among other things, with a spectrometer, magnetometer, radiometer and camera; MASCOT is supposed to land on the surface of Rigu around December. The station itself will make several short landings to take the necessary samples. It is expected that Hayabusa-2 will complete the study of the asteroid at the end of next year and go to Earth.