The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed Friday that its space probe Hayabusa2 had successfully released an impactor to make a crater on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.
The small carry-on impactor, which was scheduled to eject a lump of copper to strike against the surface, was released from Hayabusa2 shortly before 11 a.m., as initially scheduled, according to JAXA.
If the impactor successfully creates a crater on the surface of the asteroid, it will be the first such achievement in the world.
JAXA scientists will embark on research to collect information about the asteroid's interior, the conditions of which remain as they were at the time of the birth of the solar system.
The crater is made by the impactor ejecting a lump of copper, weighing about two kilograms, toward the surface of the asteroid, which has a diameter of about 900 meters.
According to the plan, the impactor was to eject the copper object at an altitude of about 200 meters, 40 minutes after being released from Hayabusa2 at a 500-meter altitude.
Hayabusa2 moved to a safe zone behind the asteroid ahead of the operation so that it will not be damaged by stone fragments flying up from the asteroid surface. While evacuating to the safe zone, the probe also released a camera to observe the impactor's operation.
Hayabusa2 is operating normally and is ready to receive images from the camera. The images were expected to arrive sometime after Friday evening.
Hayabusa2 will confirm whether a crater is made and what the conditions of the surface are from April 22, and will start collecting samples of rocks and sand in May after confirming the safety.
Ryugu is currently located about 310 million kilometers away from Earth. As it takes about 17 minutes one way for a signal to reach the asteroid or vice versa, the operation is carried out by an automatically controlled system.
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