La Jornada: Japan carries out tests to deflect asteroids that threaten the Earth

Tokyo. A Japanese space probe flew by a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday in a test mission aimed at developing technologies that could help protect the planet from dangerous rocky bodies.

The probe Hayabusa2approximately the size of a refrigerator, was to pass 800 meters from the asteroid Torifune, scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had announced.

The objective was to evaluate whether such a ship could deflect an asteroid that posed a threat to Earth.

In 2022, NASA deliberately crashed a ship into the asteroid Dimorphos, 160 meters in diameter, managing to modify its orbit.

Hayabusa2which was traveling at more than 18 thousand kilometers per hour, was not designed to hit Torifune.

The scientists sought to see if they could control the probe’s trajectory with great precision, something that would be essential for an eventual asteroid deflection mission.

“A las 18H35 (9H35 GMT), Hayabusa2 “It carried out a flyby of Torifune and the ship functioned normally,” a JAXA spokeswoman, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

Images posted online by the space agency showed scientists applauding in the control room.

If it is confirmed that the spacecraft passed within 800 meters of Torifune, the operation will become one of the closest flybys ever carried out to an asteroid near Earth.

The cameras of Hayabusa2 They were also to collect data on the asteroid’s surface, including its geographic features, texture and temperature, information considered crucial for future Earth defense missions.

The mission does not respond to any real and immediate threat to the planet we inhabit.

Launched in 2014, Hayabusa2 It had already impressed the scientific community by landing on the asteroid Ryugu, located about 300 million kilometers from our planet, and collecting samples from its surface.

Six years later, the ship returned to Earth with fragments of the asteroid, which have allowed scientists to obtain clues about what the solar system was like in its origins.

After the mission in Torifune, the probe is scheduled to attempt an “encounter” with another asteroid, called 1998 KY26, in 2031, a maneuver that consists of flying next to the object or even landing on it to collect detailed information.