New images from asteroid probe offer clues on planet formation

[Jim__]

The video is an animation from a few years back on Hyabusa2's mission to the asteroid Ryugu. I don't think its been posted here before. The article is from today. Some data has been electronically transmitted to earth. The physical material will be brought back in 2020.

From phys.org:

Photographs snapped by a shoebox-sized probe that explored the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu have offered new clues about its composition, insights that will help scientists understand the formation of our solar system.

The German-French Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) hitched a ride on Japan's Hayabusa2 spaceship, touching down on the 900-meter (3,000 feet) wide asteroid, whose orbit lies mostly between Earth and Mars, on October 3, 2018.

Ryugu's gravity is 66,500 times weaker than Earth's, and the forward motion of wheels would have launched MASCOT back into space.

So it instead hopped around the surface using the tiny amount of momentum generated by a metal swing arm attached to its boxy body, which weighed 10 kilograms (22 pounds).

more ...

[keithbvadu2]

1. Dis-invent the wheel.

Dis-invent the wheel.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. That is a remarkable space mission.

Space claw.