Japanese space probe Hayabusa-2 went to asteroid 1999 JU3

Launch of the probe from the Japanese spaceport Tanegashima

Yesterday, Japanese experts successfully launched the Hayabusa-2 probe. The probe was sent using its own H-2A launch vehicle, from the Japanese launch site. The main task of the probe is to fly to asteroid 1999 JU3, collect samples of the substance of the cosmic body and deliver it all to Earth.

The probe JU3 will reach the asteroid 1999 only in 2018, after which it will stay on the surface of the object for a year and a half, and at the end of 2019, Hayabusa-2 will go with selected samples of the asteroid's substance back to Earth.
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Hayabusa-2

The total cost of the asteroid probe project is $ 142 million. The device is equipped with solar panels, a radio module to ensure communication with the Earth, as well as a cannon that will destroy all reptiloids and fire an impactor at the asteroid.

The probe will land on the asteroid bouncing MASCOT landing module and small MINERVA2 rovers. The mass of the MASCOT module is 10 kilograms. Both the rovers and the module will study the surface of the asteroid, the data obtained will then be transmitted to Earth. MASCOT is equipped with a spectral infrared microscope, spectral camera, magnetometer, radiometer.


It looks like MASCOT

After reaching the goal of its journey, the probe will begin to map the surface of the asteroid, and a “shot” will be made at the selected point (using the Small Carry-on Impactor), after which a crater is formed. A separate stage of the project was devoted to the creation of a reliable asteroid targeting system, with the aim of obtaining the possibility of precision “shooting” of high accuracy.


Stages of the mission ( full resolution scheme )

As in the case of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the scientists will first select several possible points for unloading the probe and the “shot”, and then, after careful analysis of the data on each point, the only landing zone will be selected. The material ejected when the impactor collides with an asteroid will be collected by the probe itself, which will get close to the asteroid, then the samples will be delivered in a special capsule to Earth. If all goes well, samples of the asteroid substance will be delivered by 2020.

The asteroid 1999JU3, which was chosen for study, belongs to the Apollo group. In this case, the cosmic body intersects both the orbit of the Earth and the orbit of Mars. The diameter of the asteroid is 0.92 kilometers, and it was discovered in 1999. The asteroid does not have a proper name, as is the case with the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.