Japan plans to shoot bullets at asteroid to gather samples

As a new way to gather samples from asteroid, Japan shot space bullets into a fake space rock for experimentation and to prepare for doing it with a real asteroid soon.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spacecraft Hayabusa2 will soon touch down on asteroid Ryugu where it is aimed to gather samples from the surface by firing bullets into the soil and collect matter thrown up by the impact.

The spacecraft was launched back in December 2014. After reaching its destination, it detached robot rovers on its surface. Now, the team plans for the spacecraft to drop a ‘small carry-on impactor’, a gun barrel that shoots metal bullets, for loosening up portions of Ryugu.

Japanese rovers send back images, video from asteroid’s surface

The shooting solution came up after the team observed Ryugu’s surface to contain large pieces of gravel instead of a powdery regolith as expected by scientists. By shooting the surface, the Hayabusa2 will collect a sample it throws upward and carry it back to Earth.

According to Space.com, to test this plan, the team used data gathered over months spent surveying the asteroid. They then created a model of the same asteroid, placed it inside a vacuum chamber on Earth and used a copy of the asteroid’s sampling system.

They then fired an identical bullet at the simulated asteroid surface. The test proved to be a success and plenty of powdery gravel samples were gathered.

The touchdown of the spacecraft, according to JAXA, is planned for February 22 where it will collect adequate samples and return to Earth by 2020 for further analysis of them.