Yesterday the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2arrivedat its quarry asteroid , Ryugu , and we now be intimate it looks a bit like a rhomb .
But before the space vehicle arrived , no one knew what Ryugu was going to look like . So the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) asked a few people involved in the mission to have a knife thrust atdrawing its shape .
Some of the predictions were serious , limn it as a rock not too dissimilar to other asteroids we ’ve seen . But some of the others were a fleck more comical , from a human being to a spiky sea urchin . Let ’s take a look at some of them .
Below , the Director General of JAXA ’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences , Hitoshi Kuniaka , cater his own view . This was limn it as , uh , a elephantine mortal – with a spin axis helpfully include .
Then Hiromitsu Kohsaka , who point a documentary about the delegation calledHayabusa 2 – Return to the Universehad his own go , coming up with a pretty odd shape .
“ I tried to pull in the worst potential pattern , so that even when the asteroid is rotate , there is no alteration in the clear loudness , ” he said . “ I pray that the existent Ryugu is not like this ( haha ) ! If we wear this imaginary ikon is exact , then nothing can scare us ( haha ) ! ”
Artist Akihiro Ikeshita , meanwhile , responsible for many of the artist ’s impressions of the ballistic capsule itself , went for a slightly more mundane option . “ As this flex out rather uninteresting , I ’ll be well-chosen if Ryugu betrays this in a good style , ” he enjoin .
Next up we ’ve beget Tomohiro Yamaguchi , who guess a variety of sea urchin physique for the asteroid . “ I assumed the bad guinea pig , ” he said .
The two - year - old daughter of Kanako Sakamoto , who works on the sample distribution team ( female parent , not daughter ) , also had a go with the service of Elmer Reizenstein and chocolate . “ If I take a lot of samples here then I will cease up with a full stomach , ” the team say in answer .
Atsushi Fujii from the ground organization team suppose a cake . Because who does n’t like cake ?
And Go Ono , on the Altitude and Orbit Control Subsystem ( AOCS ) squad , manifestly had football ( or , yes , soccer ) on the wit .
Finally , we ’ll leave you with this effort from Ryudu Tsukizaki , responsible for the ion engines on the ballistic capsule . He swan it ’s a dish . Not that other affair you were thinking .
