Sample collection from asteroid (162173) Ryugu by Hayabusa2: Implications for surface evolution

Morota, T.; Sugita, S.; Cho, Y.; Kanamaru, M.; Tatsumi, E.; Sakatani, N.; Honda, R.; Hirata, N.; Kikuchi, H.; Yamada, M.; Yokota, Y.; Kameda, S.; Matsuoka, M.; Sawada, H.; Honda, C.; Kouyama, T.; Ogawa, K.; Suzuki, H.; Yoshioka, K.; Hayakawa, M.; Hirata, N.; Hirabayashi, M.; Miyamoto, H.; Michikami, T.; Hiroi, T.; Hemmi, R.; Barnouin, O. S.; Ernst, C. M.; Kitazato, K.; Nakamura, T.; Riu, L.; Senshu, H.; Kobayashi, H.; Sasaki, S.; Komatsu, G.; Tanabe, N.; Fujii, Y.; Irie, T.; Suemitsu, M.; Takaki, N.; Sugimoto, C.; Yumoto, K.; Ishida, M.; Kato, H.; Moroi, K.; Domingue, D.; Michel, P.; Pilorget, C.; Iwata, T.; Abe, M.; Ohtake, M.; Nakauchi, Y.; Tsumura, K.; Yabuta, H.; Ishihara, Y.; Noguchi, R.; Matsumoto, K.; Miura, A.; Namiki, N.; Tachibana, S.; Arakawa, M.; Ikeda, H.; Wada, K.; Mizuno, T.; Hirose, C.; Hosoda, S.; Mori, O.; Shimada, T.; Soldini, S.; Tsukizaki, R.; Yano, H.; Ozaki, M.; Takeuchi, H.; Yamamoto, Y.; Okada, T.; Shimaki, Y.; Shirai, K.; Iijima, Y.; Noda, H.; Kikuchi, S.; Yamaguchi, T.; Ogawa, N.; Ono, G.; Mimasu, Y.; Yoshikawa, K.; Takahashi, T.; Takei, Y.; Fujii, A.; Nakazawa, S.; Terui, F.; Tanaka, S.; Yoshikawa, M.; Saiki, T.; Watanabe, S.; Tsuda, Y.
Bibliographical reference

Science

Advertised on:
5
2020
Journal
Number of authors
95
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
118
Refereed citations
117
Description
The near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu is thought to be a primitive carbonaceous object that contains hydrated minerals and organic molecules. We report sample collection from Ryugu’s surface by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on 21 February 2019. Touchdown images and global observations of surface colors are used to investigate the stratigraphy of the surface around the sample location and across Ryugu. Latitudinal color variations suggest the reddening of exposed surface material by solar heating and/or space weathering. Immediately after touchdown, Hayabusa2’s thrusters disturbed dark, fine grains that originate from the redder materials. The stratigraphic relationship between identified craters and the redder material indicates that surface reddening occurred over a short period of time. We suggest that Ryugu previously experienced an orbital excursion near the Sun.
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Minor Bodies of the Solar System
This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid
Julia de
León Cruz