Ryugu sample return v Apollo

[Moonshed]

The Japanese Hayabusa-2 capsule has successfully returned a sample from the asteroid Ryugu and parachuted it down to earth near Woomera, South Australia on Saturday. This is a truly remarkable achievement with the spacecraft having spent nearly a year investigating Ryugu before returning to Earth. The samples should yield valuable information about the formation of the early Solar System.   

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55201662 

The technology involved to ensure success in not only landing on a remote asteroid but gathering samples and returning them to Earth is really cutting edge stuff, such an audacious and successful  mission deserves the recognition it receives.

The thought that crossed my mind is wondering if this mission is technically, and I repeat technically, more of an achievement than the Apollo missions in putting a man on the a moon. 

Do other members have any thoughts on this, or is it just me being cooped up too long thanks to COVID? I sometimes get myself wondering about so many things I tend to end up not knowing my elbow from my eyepiece.

Keith

Edited December 7, 2020 by Moonshed

[Moonshed]

Okay gentlemen, I’m ready to go now, you can take me to Shady Pines Home for the Bewildered, I won’t cause any fuss. Can I bring my Celestron? 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Moonshed

[DaveL59]

Well on the one hand you don't need to gear up for a couple 80Kg bags of fluid that need to consume oxygen, food and water and be maintained within a finite temp/pressure window which in some ways makes the build of the ship that bit simpler.

But then also consider we now have way more advanced tech to enable navigation to a small distant target and robotics to allow remote or programmed manipulation which didn't exist back in the 60's in a form that could be launched into space. 

Both were great achievements of their time I'd say 🙂 

[Alan White]

I have the opinion that you are no comparing eggs for eggs here Keith,
different technologies, different spots on the dial.

The Hyabusa2 is a very big deal in its own right and not comparable.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Alan White

[DaveL59]

2 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I have the opinion that you are no comparing eggs for eggs here Keith,
different technologies, different spots on the dial.

The Hyabusa2 is a very big deal in its own right and not comparable.

or is he thinking regular vs square eggs 😉 

[Paul M]

Technology, innit. 

But I bet they couldn't do an asteroid sample return mission with the computing power that they put man on the Moon with. Whereas Armstrong could have flown Eagle to a space rock by hand, lean out of the airlock, lasso it (while shouting "yeeha!!") and pull it closer, scoop up some asteroid stuff then hand flown all the way back to splashdown.

In that respect, Japan made hard work of it! 😉

[Moonshed]

5 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I have the opinion that you are no comparing eggs for eggs here Keith,
different technologies, different spots on the dial.

The Hyabusa2 is a very big deal in its own right and not comparable.

Yes, of course the Hayabusa-2  is a big deal in its own right, as indeed was Apollo. Comparisons have been said to be odious, and in some respects they can be. We are looking at two totally different types of missions in different centuries, but the one thing I feel they have in common is the degree of technical sophistication that went into each. In the 60’s they did not have the technology we have today, nothing like it, but at the time it was truly cutting edge equipment and thinking. Today we have the technology to do far more, but perhaps not so much that the mission to Ryugu could be said to be less technically challenging than the Apollo missions, maybe. The biggest difference of course, all other things  considered equal for the sake of argument, is that if the Ryugu mission failed no one would have died. But I am not talking about the magnitude of human risk that was at stake, only of the level of technical achievement each achieved in its own time frame.

Keith

[Tiny Clanger]

49 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Technology, innit. 

But I bet they couldn't do an asteroid sample return mission with the computing power that they put man on the Moon with. Whereas Armstrong could have flown Eagle to a space rock by hand, lean out of the airlock, lasso it (while shouting "yeeha!!") and pull it closer, scoop up some asteroid stuff then hand flown all the way back to splashdown.

In that respect, Japan made hard work of it! 😉

From what I've read about him, Armstrong would have done the above, but voiced a polite 'excuse me', then 'That's one small scoop for (a) man ...'