Near-Earth Asteroid 162173 Ryugu, also known as Dragon's Castle, has craters, but it looks like a big space diamond.
This big space diamond is estimated to be worth more than $80 billion. However, it is just diamond in shape; asteroid 162173 Ryugu is estimated to be composed of mostly nickel and iron.
Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. Japan's robotic spacecraft Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014.
In short, Hayabusa2 is a Japanese spacecraft that studied the asteroid Ryugu, collected samples, and brought them to Earth for analysis.
Hayabusa2 rendezvoused in space with this near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu (which is a one-kilometer-wide asteroid) on 27 June 2018.
Hayabusa2 rendezvoused in space with this near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu (which is a one-kilometer-wide asteroid) on 27 June 2018.
Why is Asteroids Ryugu important?
Asteroids like Ryugu are fascinating for a variety of reasons, but probably most importantly because they are close to Earth and could potentially cause an impact threat in the far future.
In the near future, Ryugu is interesting because it may be possible to send future spacecraft there to mine it, giving humanity a new source of precious metals.
In terms of science, Ryugu is exciting and interesting because it reveals details about how our Solar System formed billions of years ago and explains why it orbits so closely to Earth.
The following image displays craters, rock fields, and other surface structures that were unknown before the arrival of spacecraft Hayabusa2.
Hayabusa2 is scheduled to unleash several probes, some of which will land on Ryugu and move around, while Hayabusa2 itself will mine a small portion of the asteroid for return to Earth.