Post #3711665
2026-07-10 07:25 UTC
So apparently the initial plan for the Hayabusa 2# encounter with Torifune was to flyby at 100 km distance, but that was too far for the cameras. So engineers got it down to 10 km, which was better and made the scientists happy. So then the engineers got it down to a few meters, and that terrified the scientists. The eventual flyby distance was 800 m, just larger than the assumed max diameter of the asteroid. And it worked!
This image was taken 1 second before the closest approach.
#ACM2026
Replies (4)
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@mxchara@seattle.pink 2026-07-10 07:43
@simonbp@social.linux.pizza yaaay! Hayabusa-kun! (cf. https://youtu.be/v3gA-Z9tmio, a song written for the first Hayabusa mission and featured in #KamenRider Fourze.
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@simonbp@social.linux.pizza 2026-07-10 07:28
Also, most of the science data is yet to come, as they can't downlink with the ion engines on, and the spacecraft needs them on for a bit to get to the next asteroid.
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@c_dan4th@mstdn.social 2026-07-11 00:18
@simonbp@social.linux.pizza Hey, another contact binary rubble pile! Asteroids don’t look like what we were taught in Empire Strikes Back.
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@billbennett@mastodon.nz 2026-07-11 08:16
@simonbp@social.linux.pizza Reminds me of the surface of a Toblerone.