Say you have to prepare to shoot bullets in an asteroid and suck the debris thrown out of the explosion, then keep it safe for safekeeping. There is no better way than to shoot bullets in a fake asteroid on Earth and see what happens in slow motion.
So, that's exactly what the Japan Aero Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) did at the end of December in preparation for its Hayabusa2 spacecraft sampling at the Ryugu asteroid later this week. Using the data occupied over months, they noticed the space rock. They created a model of the asteroid, placed it in a vacuum chamber, and used a copy of the spacecraft's sampling system in a test run.
The trial tackled two main concerns. The team wanted to be sure that the instrument copy was still working after it was put into storage since about the time the spacecraft began in December 2014. The test run also made a discovery made by Hayabusa2. At close inspection, sin saw Ryugu's surface covered. in gravel, rather than the fine dust expected by JAXA when the mission was designed.
To address these issues, the JAXA team has designed a replica experiment using a flight-saving sampling tool, which is an exact copy of the instrument on the spacecraft. Scientists have aimed the rhythmic structure of Ryugu and the chemical composition of the class of meteorites they believe comes in similar asteroids. The researchers placed the entire apparatus in a vacuum chamber to better mimic the conditions at the asteroid (although they still had to work in Earth's gravity).
The Hayabusa2 team was satisfied with the outcome of the trial; they could confirm that the bullet mechanism did make monsters that could collect the spacecraft. In fact, although the test runs on gravel, a smaller crater produced than a test run on dust, the sampler could collect more material. And the team said it expects the real Hayabusa2 mechanism to cost even more without the interference of gravity.
With the dress rehearsal a success, all that remains to do is waiting for the right thing. JAXA has the maneuver for 6 p.m. scheduled. EST on February 21 (2300 GMT, 8 am local time on February 22 for mission control staff)
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