A Japanese Space probe has successfully fired a bullet into an asteroid as a part of a mission to collect rock samples.
The projectile disturbed material from the exterior surface of the asteroid Ryugu from its surface to weak gravitational field. These loose particles were collected by the probe.
Japan’s space agency JAXA announced that the Hayabusa 2 craft successfully touched down on the asteroid on Friday morning Japanese time.
Scientist first thought that the surface on Ryugu was powdery but however tests showed that the asteroid was covered in larger gravel. The team in total was planning three sample tests over the next few weeks.
Hayabusa 2 will depart Ryugu in December 2019 and return to Earth by the end of 2020 with its precious cargo of samples, the samples will then be analysed in the University of Leicester, UK.
This was the first time that humans visited the class C asteroid. Type C asteroids largely contain carbon components. They are 75 percent of the discovered asteroids. The other type of asteroids are metallic S- and M-types.