Pictures confirm Hayabusa2 made a crater in asteroid Ryugu
The Japanese spacecraft can now grab some asteroid dust from below the surface
Hayabusa2 has successfully blasted a crater into the asteroid Ryugu. On April 25 Japan time, the spacecraft flew over the spot where it had dropped a projectile three weeks earlier and took pictures of the impact (SN Online: 4/5/19).
“We have confirmed that an artificial crater was created,” JAXA, Japan’s space agency, reports based on a comparison of before and after images. “The size and depth of the crater are now under analysis.”
The images showed an area about 20 meters wide had changed after the impact, which was bigger than the team expected. “A lively debate has been initiated in the project,” JAXA tweeted.