Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft captured incredible images of a near-Earth asteroid after a super-close flyby on July 5 though intense debate was necessary before teams signed off on the daring attempt.
The images of the asteroid Torifune arrived on the morning of July 6 Japan for teams at the Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Hayabusa 2 was launched in December 2014 and arrived at the asteroid Ryugu four years later. The spacecraft collected samples and returned them to Earth in 2020 completing its key targets.
One key challenge was the unknown size and dimensions which threatened the safety of the spacecraft, the team estimated a maximum credible size for the asteroid of 1,400 meters by 400 meters.
Yoshikawa, former mission manager of Hayabusa2, told scientists gathered at the Asteroids: “We did not imagine such a contact binary,”
“Originally, we didn’t think we could have such a very big image. Maybe we will take a very small one, but the image was much larger than we expected.”
Hayabusa 2 successfully detected Torifune on June 19. The spacecraft used terrestrial guidance up to three hours before the flyby. The ultimate result was the stunning and macro shot of the dual-lobed Torifone captured by the probe’s Optical Navigation Camera Telescope.
The Near Infrared Spectrometer and laser altimeter also delivered what Yoshikawa described as the first successful demonstration of LIDAR ranging during an asteroid flyby.
The most urgent 25MB of data was downloaded as teams will need to wait months for the rest of the 300 MB of science data.
Nonetheless, this is not the end but the final destination for the spacecraft’s prolonged mission is the tiny asteroid 1998KY26-a rough 36-foot wide, fast-spinning asteroid with which it is scheduled to rendezvous in 2031.
