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Japan Uses Explosives On Asteroid
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft detonated an explosive device over a small asteroid. The goal: create a nice, fresh crater that will later be studied by the spacecraft and experts on Earth. (See also Hayabusa 2 To Begin Asteroid Mining .)
(Earthbased test of Hayabusa 2 explosives)
Researchers watched from mission control in Sagamihara, Japan, and clapped politely as Hayabusa2 released an experiment known as the Small Carry-on Impactor. The device consisted of a copper disk packed with HMX high-explosive. Once the mothership had safely moved out of the line of fire, the impactor apparently detonated, firing the disk into the side of the asteroid. A camera released by Hayabusa2 appeared to catch the moment of impact, which sent a stream of ejecta into space."It went flawlessly," says Harold C. Connolly Jr., a geologist at Rowan University in New Jersey and a co-investigator on Hayabusa2.
SF writer Edwin Charles Tubb nailed this strategy for determining the composition of asteroids in detail in his 1958 novel The Mechanical Monarch:
Fire streaked in a thin line from the muzzle of a cannon-like tube mounted beneath the viewing instruments and a tiny, rocket-powered projectile, drove towards the mysterious bulk. It hit, exploding into a cloud of incandescent vapour, and Wendis stared thoughtfully at the brilliant lines on the spectroscope screen."... the spectro shows traces of iron, some copper, a little tungsten and a lot of beryllium. Looks unnatural somehow, too much like an alloy."
(Read more about the Impactor Determines Composition)
Via NPR.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/16/2019)
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