Watch Japan’s spacecraft grab asteroid sample by shooting bullet at it

A new video has been released showing Japan's rover that earlier successfully landed on an asteroid to get some samples by shooting a space bullet into the space rock. 

Two weeks ago, Japan’s space agency JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully landed on an asteroid called Ryugu where it shot the space rock with a metal bullet in order to collect samples to bring them back to Earth.

The footage, which was finally received on March 5 by JAXA, showed the plan in action where the spacecraft can be seen approaching the asteroid. As soon as the asteroid touches down the rock’s surface, it presumably fires a metal bullet at 671mph that sent debris bouncing back into atmosphere some of which it collected for samples, described Futurism.

Japan plans to shoot bullets at asteroid to gather samples

Video Courtesy: SciNews/YouTube

Also, before actually carrying out the space bullet experiment, JAXA had practiced the procedure earlier this year on Earth with an artificial asteroid designed to mimic Ryugu’s structure and rock composition.

Moreover, apart from this maneuver, the spacecraft also has a couple of more tasks to perform during its stay at the asteroid. These include creating an artificial crater and later examining to see what happens, touching down for the second time inside the crater, and then deploy one of its last onboard rovers to get another look at the rocky asteroid, reported Space.com.

By the year’s end, Hayabusa2 will begin its yearlong journey back to Earth and in later 2020 researchers will finally welcome the spacecraft back to its home planet. The samples will help them learn more about Solar System’s inner planets and origin of life on Earth.