日本太空探測器抵達小行星
A Japanese space probe has arrived at an asteroid after a three-and-a half year, 300 million kilometer journey through deep space to collect information about the origins of the solar system.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency says the Hayabusa2 probe entered into a position about 20 kilometers above the Ryugu asteroid Wednesday. The probe will spend the next 18 months taking photographic images of Ryugu, which is named after an undersea palace in ancient Japanese folklore, and deploy a French-German built lander to study the surface.
Hayabusa2 will eventually land on Ryugu itself during the mission. It will send out a device that will shoot a 2-kilogram copper projectile into the surface that will create a small crater. The probe will land near the surface and collect the underground material blown out of the crater.
Hayabusa2 is due to return to Earth in late 2020.日本的一艘收集太陽系起源信息的太空探測器歷時3年半，向太空深處航行了3億公里之後，飛抵一顆小行星。
日本宇宙航空研究開發機構說，“隼鳥二號”探測器星期三飛到距離小行星龍宮20公里的位置。這艘探測器將花18個月的時間拍攝小行星龍宮的圖片。這顆小行星以日本古代傳說中的海底宮殿命名。探測器還要向小行星放出一個法國和德國聯合制造的登陸器，研究小行星的表面。
隼鳥二號探測器最終也會降落到小行星龍宮的表面。它將先釋放一個裝置，把一個兩公斤重的銅塊發射到小行星表面，形成一個形狀像火山口的小撞擊坑，然後在那附近降落，收集表面被撞擊出來的物質。
隼鳥二號定於2020年年底返回地球。
