Probe-on-asteroid violence as Japan's Hayabusa2 chucks screaming chunk of base metal at Ryugu

Japanese probe Hayabusa2 has shot a 2kg copper bullet at Ryugu in order to get a glimpse of the asteroid's interior. The Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) was blasted at the rock by explosives packed behind it. The theory was that it would smack into the asteroid at 2km/s, creating a crater in the surface where the probe can …

[Alister]

What if Ryugu fires back?

hey?

[sitta_europea]

"The team has, after all, suffered its fair share of issues along the way."

You might, rather, have said, "The team has overcome more than its fair share of issues along the way."

[Ian Johnston]

Meanwhile religion worries about two blokes kissing.

[Totally not a Cylon]

And yet the same folks will pay money to watch 2 women kiss......

Nowt so queer as folk.

[Anonymous Coward]

Every fuxking time. Can't celebrate a scientific triumph without tipping your fedora and whining about utterly unrelated events.

[BillyYank]

Shouldn't they have waited until early Sunday morning?

[aregross]

SCIENCE! Fuck Yea!

[Sleep deprived]

Bullet trajectory?

If the orbiter goes down to 500m to shoot a bullet due to hit the asteroid at 2km/s, it should only have 4 seconds to retreat. Or is the bullet circling down to its target?

[MonkeyBob]

Re: Bullet trajectory?

Thats what I was thinking, so I googled it. What it did was release a "Free-flying gun with one bulet". Then it moved to a safe distance before the gun fired.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2#Surface_samples

[Christoph]

Beresheet

Does anyone else think that name sounds like something you'd find in the woods?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Beresheet

Well it actually is named after the (Hebrew) Book of Genesis

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Beresheet

Specifically, the first word of the Book of Genesis, which means "In the beginning".

An odd choice really, given that the various space programs have more or less conclusively falsified it.

[blue-eyes]

Re: Beresheet

The transliteration is awful. Actually pronounced Be-ray-shit (the i as in fish).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Beresheet

The Jerusalem Times spells it that way, with two es.

Owing to a lack of tape recorders c. 600 BCE we cannot be sure of the original pronunciation - but I have suspected a little Bowdlerisation of spelling to avoid precisely the pun of the OP.

However, given what actually happened, a more appropriate pronunciation might be "B....oh shit!"

[Conundrum1885]

It almost worked

To be fair 150 metres is pretty close.

In all likelihood the probe probably broke an antenna on landing but may still be mostly intact waiting for someone a few years from now

to go "Hmm...?"