Artificial crater made by Japanese Hayabusa2's SCI.

Highlights

1. Artificial crater created by SCI (Small carry-on impactor) on asteroid named 162173 Ryugu near to our earth.
2. SCI was present on Hayabusa2 & was deployed to Ryugu on April 5, 2019 and then it came into operation.
3. JAXA says the size & depth of the crater are still under analysis.

Check the images shown below to see the difference:-

Image credit: JAXA, The University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, The University of Aizu, AIST
Left image taken on : March 22,2019
Right image taken on : April 25,2019

What is Hayabusa2 ?

1. Hayabusa2 is basically an asteroid explorer used to collect samples from asteroids & is operated by JAXA ( Japanese Space Exploration Agency).
2. It is a successor of Hayabusa mission which brought samples of asteroids in 2010.
3. It was launched on December 3, 2014.
4. It was rendezvoused with an asteroid named 162173 Ryugu on June 27, 2018. Rendezvous is a process in which by orbital maneuvering we try to bring two spacecrafts( in this case one is asteroid) in same orbit & in approach to a very close distance, for this process high precision of orbital velocities & position vector is required.

Specifications

Hayabusa2

1. Mass = 610 kg(1340 lbs) with fuel, power is generated by bilateral solar arrays with an efficiency of 26 kw at 1 AU( Astronomical unit) & 1.4 kw at 1.4 AU( Astronomical unit).
2. 4 solar electric ion thrusters ( 1 for backup), simultaneous operation of 3 thrusters can generate up to 28 mN thrust. 
3. 2 high gain directional antenna for X- band & K- band, can be communicated using the following  ground stations :-

• Usuda Deep Space Center.
• Uchinoura Space Center.
• NASA Deep Space Network.
• ESA Malargue station. 

Navigation department of Hayabusa2 includes optical navigation camera telescope (ONC-T) which works together with optical navigation camera wide-field (ONC-W2) & two star trackers.

Other scientific instruments present on Hayabusa2 can be divided into 3 major parts which are :-

• Remote sensing :- Optical navigation camera (ONC-T, ONC-W1, ONC-W2 ), Near infrared camera (NIR3), Thermal infrared camera (TIR), Light detection & ranging (LIDAR).
• Sampling :- Sampling device (SMP), Small carry on impactor (SCI), Deployable camera (DCAM 3).
• Rovers :- Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT), Rover -1A, Rover -1B, Rover 2.

Missions of Hayabusa2 in 2019 & their status

1. From January 6 - 13 : BOX-B operation (tour observation at altitude 20km: Sub-solar point) : Complete.
2. From January 19 - 31 : BOX-B operation (tour observation at altitude 20km: North pole direction) : Complete.
3. From February 20 - 22 : Touchdown 1（TD1-L08E1)（Feb. 22, altitude 0m) : Complete.
4. From February 23 - March 1 : B0X-C operation (Altitude 5km) : Complete.
5. From March 6 - 8 : Descent observation (DO-S01) (Mar. 8, altitude 22m) : Complete.
6. From March 20 - 22 : Crater search operation (before SCI operation)（CRA1) : Complete.
7. From April 3 - 6 : Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) operation (Hayabusa2 will drop the explosive small carry-on impactor (SCI) to generate a crater in order to gather subsurface material) : Complete.
8. From April 23 - 25 : Crater search operation (after SCI operation)（CRA2) : Complete.
9. After May : Touchdown operation (TD2) : Planning.
10. After July : MINERVA-II2 deployment : Planning.
11. From November - December : Departure from asteroid : Planning.