What did NASA say about the asteroid near Earth?

Ryugu is one of the asteroids that pose a potential danger to the total number of Apollo asteroids, and a large team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions across Japan have now revealed their age and characteristics, by launching a copper ball on its surface. Trying to simulate the conditions in which pits are formed.

In 2014, the Japanese space agency JAXA launched the Hayabusa2 space probe to the asteroid Ryugu to find out more about it, and he arrived there two years ago and started the reconnaissance mission entrusted to him, where one of his missions was to launch a copper ball the size of a tennis ball and the weight of 2 kg at a speed of 7200 km / hour at Ryogo , In order to learn more about how the nozzles are formed on it and its structure.

The projectile was fired into a hole measuring 14.5 meters wide and 2.3 meters deep and generated a small cloud of debris.

By analyzing the materials in that cloud and the bottom and sides of the pits, the team was able to learn more about the asteroid's composition, where they found a sand-like substance beneath the rock surface confirming the correct theories that indicate That it belongs to the asteroids called "rubble pile", which consists of the remains resulting from the destruction of a larger object after colliding with another object.

The team observed that the formation of craters on the surface of the asteroid was limited by gravity and not the strength of the surface, which again indicates that it is composed of fragile and porous material.

The hole left by the projectile was about seven times larger than it was on Earth that had a more rough surface, as indicated by this. The findings suggest that it is likely much smaller than some had anticipated before the mission and is now 9 million years old.

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