Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2018

14 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 SMALL BODIES a plastic explosive charge. About 40 min- utes after the separa- tion from the probe (with the latter in a safe position) and at the height of about 500 meters, the pro- jectile will begin its run, followed by a camera that will have to accurately map the site of the impact (pre- viously chosen based on observations from MASCOT). It is ex- pected that the explo- sion can dig a crater up to 2 meters wide and that the ejecta will remain in suspen- sion above the area affected by the event for at least two weeks. Consequently, to avoid any possible damage, Hayabusa2 will have to wait until the material has settled before going down into the crater to recover the most precious samples of the whole mission. O n this page and the fol- lowing one, other images of the surface of Ryugu, gathered at the beginning of the scientific phase of the Hayabusa2 mis- sion. [DLR, JAXA] The researchers hope to see at least three different types of material coming back to Earth in December, 2020: regolith that ex-