The Japanese space probe, dubbed Hayabusa2, is expected to leave our planet sometime in the days to come

Nov 28, 2014 10:46 GMT  ·  By

Earlier this month, on November 12, the European Space Agency successfully landed a probe on the surface of a comet. Apparently, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency isn't about to let these brainiacs have all the glory.

On the contrary, word has it that, sometime in the days to come, Japan will too send a probe on a historic space mission. In a nutshell, the country aims to have a probe reach an asteroid and blow it up.

Japan's asteroid mission

We first talked about this little project not too long ago, in September. As explained at that time, the probe Japan wants to send to an asteroid goes by the name of Hayabusa2. Its target space rock, on the other hand, is known as 1999JU3.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency expects that, having reached this asteroid, its probe will successfully blast a crater in its surface. Once this part is completed, the probe will collect samples from deep inside the hole it created.

Scientists expect that, since the asteroid's core has never been exposed to solar wind or radiation, these samples will help them gain a better understanding of the birth and the evolution of the universe. Apparently, they hope to even find traces of water and organic matter in these samples.

Should things go according to plan, Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe will reach its target asteroid sometime in 2018. Samples collected from deep inside the space rock's core should make it back to Earth by 2020.

In case anyone was wondering, the spacecraft will blast a crater in the asteroid by firing a metal bullet straight at its surface. The metal bullet will be fired at a speed of 7,200 kilometers per hour (4,500 miles per hour), which is about 6 times the speed of sound here on Earth.

Apart from abusing the space rock in this horrific manner, the Japanese probe will deploy a lander and three rovers on its surface. The lander and the rovers will be in charge of studying the asteroid's appearance and makeup, the scientists behind this project explain.

The probe was supposed to launch this Sunday

By the looks of it, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency expected to launch its Hayabusa2 probe this coming Sunday, November 30. However, the launch was postponed due to bad weather.

“The launch of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26 with the Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 onboard has been rescheduled as clouds including a freezing layer that exceeds the restrictions for suitable weather are forecast to be generated at around the scheduled launch time on November 30, 2014.”

“The new launch day will be no earlier than December 1, 2014. The new launch day and time will be announced as soon as it is determined after carefully examining the weather conditions,” the Agency writes in a statement.

Fear not, the moment Japan's Hayabusa2 probe leaves Earth and embarks on its long-expected space adventure, you will learn about it here.

Japan gears up to launch a probe to an asteroid (5 Images)

Japan is getting ready to launch a probe to an asteroid
The probe should leave Earth a few days from nowHayabusa2 should reach its target sometime in 2018
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