A near-Earth asteroid has sand, rocks and porous material

2 Apr 2020

Image depicting NASA's mission to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid

A near-Earth asteroid has sand, rocks and porous material

A near-Earth asteroid has sand, rocks and porous materialThe Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Hayabusa2 spacecraft fired a small copper cannonball into a near-Earth asteroid named Ryugu last year.

It is now that they were able to analyse the impact, from images captured by cameras on Hayabusa2.

What did they find?

The cannonball created a nearly 33-foot-wide crater on the surface of the asteroid.
 	Based on the material released by the impact, Ryugu seems to have material similar to loose sand on Earth. The materials also never fully left the surface which shows that the asteroid has gravity.
 	The photos show that the asteroid has two types of rocks - dark and rough rocks, as well as those that are bright and smooth.
 	The study of the impact also shows that the asteroid is largely made up of highly porous material (a material that many small holes, so liquid or air can pass through).
 	This could explain why very few meteorites reach Earth intact (in one piece). Our atmosphere protects against them and causes them to break apart into pieces.

Asteroids, which act as 'leftovers' from the beginning of the solar system, could help us understand how planets formed.

About Ryuga and Hayabusa2

Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid that measures about 3,000 feet wide. It was discovered in 1999.

Hayabusa2 is a mission to bring back samples from an asteroid. It will return to Earth by the end of 2020. It will be the first to bring back materials from a C-class asteroid (they haven't been visited before.) C-class asteroids are the most common known asteroids.

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft fired a small copper cannonball into a near-Earth asteroid named Ryugu last year. It is now that […]

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