ASIA / PACIFIC
April 1, 2019
Japan to make crater on
asteroid to get samples
The Associated Press
S
T
CRATER COLLECTION. This image released by the Japan Aero-
space Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows the shadow, center above, of
the Hayabusa2 spacecraft after its successful touchdown on the asteroid
Ryugu. Japan’s space agency says the spacecraft is following up on its
touchdown on a distant asteroid with another risky mission — to drop
an explosive to make a crater and collect underground samples to get
possible clues to the origin of the solar system. (JAXA via AP, File)
JAXA
previously
details of a crater to find
to
have
out the history of the planned
asteroid, said Koji Wada, Hayabusa2 briefly touch
who is in charge of the down in a crater, but an
agency researcher Takashi
project.
Hayabusa2 will start Kubota said they may not
descending toward the force it to prioritize safety
asteroid the day before to for the spacecraft. Kubota
carry out the mission from said it would be the first
its home position of 12 time a spacecraft would
materials
from
miles above. It will drop a take
a
space
cone-shaped
piece
of underground
equipment
containing object.
The asteroid, named
explosives that will blast
off a copper plate on the Ryugu after an undersea
bottom. It will turn into a palace in a Japanese
ball and slam into the folktale, is about 3,000 feet
asteroid at the speed of 1.2 in diameter and about 180
million miles from Earth.
miles per second.
Swimmer Kenneth To dies at
age 26 while training in Florida
HONG KONG (AP) —
Kenneth To, a swimmer
who won a silver medal for
Australia at the 2013 world
championships, has died
after becoming ill while
training in Florida. He was
26 years old.
To won six medals for
Australia at the 2010
Youth Olympics in Singa-
pore, including gold in the
400-meter medley. At the
2013 worlds in Barcelona,
To was part of Australia’s
silver medal-winning 400
medley relay squad.
“(To) felt unwell at a
training session and was
taken to hospital where
sadly, he passed away,” the
Hong
Kong
Sports
Institute said. “Kenneth
was known as a truly
exceptional person, warm,
funny, and kind.”
The cause of death was
not immediately clear.
Born in Hong Kong,
To’s family moved to
Australia when he was
young. He transferred his
nationality in 2016 to swim
for Hong Kong and was
training for the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics.
To was in Florida for a
three-month training camp
with the Gator Swim Club
at the University of Florida
in Gainesville.
Orangutan mother blinded by
air gun pellets in Indonesia
By Binsar Bakkara and Niniek Karmini
The Associated Press
By Mari Yamaguchi
OKYO — Japan’s
space agency said
its
Hayabusa2
spacecraft is following up
on its touchdown on a
distant
asteroid
with
another risky mission — to
drop an explosive to make a
crater
and
collect
underground samples to
get possible clues to the
origin of the solar system.
Hayabusa2 made history
on February 22 when it
successfully touched down
on
the
boulder-rich
asteroid, where it also
collected some surface
fragments.
The Japan Aerospace
Exploration
Agency
(JAXA) said Hayabusa2 is
to drop a copper impactor
the size of a baseball and
weighing 4.4 pounds on the
asteroid on April 5 to collect
samples
from
deeper
underground where they
had not been exposed to the
sun or space rays.
The new mission will
require an immediate
evacuation
of
the
spacecraft to the other side
of the asteroid so it won’t
get hit by flying shards
from the blast, JAXA said.
While
moving
away,
Hayabusa2 will leave a
camera to capture the
outcome.
The mission will allow
JAXA scientists to analyze
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
TO TRAGEDY. Kenneth To of Australia swims to win the Men’s 200m
Individual Medley final at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Ger-
many, in this August 11, 2013 file photo. To died in March after becoming
ill while training in Florida. He was 26 years old. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer,
File)
In December he com- FINA said it learned of To’s
“with
immense
peted
at
the
world death
short-course
champion- sadness.”
“Owner of many Hong
ships in China and placed
sixth in the 100-meter Kong national swimming
medley
—
his
first records, Kenneth To was a
individual final at a major reference and example for
championships
in
six the youth in the territory,”
the
Switzerland-based
years, he wrote on Twitter.
World swimming body governing body said.
Give blood.
To schedule a blood donation
call 1-800-G IVE-LIFE or
visit HelpSaveALife.org.
IBOLANGIT, Indonesia — An
orangutan mother has been blinded
after being shot with at least 74 air
gun pellets on Indonesia’s Sumatra island,
where threats to the endangered species
have increased as the palm oil and paper
industries shrink its jungle habitat.
An x-ray showed at least 74 air gun pel-
lets in her body, including four in her left
eye and two in the right, said veterinarian
Yenny Saraswati with the Sumatran
Orangutan Conservation Program.
The great ape, named “Hope” by her
rescuers, also had several wounds believed
to have been caused by sharp objects, she
said. Hope also was recovering from
surgery to repair a broken collarbone.
Villagers spotted the severely wounded
orangutan on a farm in Aceh province’s
Subulussalam district with her month-old
baby, which was critically malnourished,
said Sapto Aji Prabowo, who heads the
Aceh provincial conservation agency.
The baby died as rescuers rushed the
pair to a clinic in neighboring North
Sumatra province’s Sibolangit district.
“Hopefully Hope can pass this critical
period, but she cannot be released to the
wild anymore,” Saraswati said, adding
that only seven of the pellets were removed
because the veterinarians prioritized the
broken collarbone and the risk of infection
that it posed.
The orangutan conservation program
said the use of readily available air guns to
shoot and kill wildlife, including orangu-
tans, is a major problem in Indonesia.
It said in the last 10 years, it has treated
more than 15 orangutans with a total of
HOPE ENDURES. Veterinarians and volunteers
of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program
tend to a female orangutan they named “Hope” after
conducting a surgery for infections in some parts of
her body and to fix broken bones, in Sibolangit, North
Sumatra, Indonesia. A veterinarian says the endan-
gered orangutan that had a young baby is blind after
being shot at least 74 times, including six times in the
eyes, with an air gun. The baby orangutan died from
malnutrition. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
nearly 500 air gun pellets in their bodies.
Last year, an orangutan in the
Indonesian part of Borneo died after being
shot at least 130 times with an air gun, the
second known killing of an orangutan that
year.
A 2018 comprehensive study of Borneo’s
orangutans estimates their numbers have
plummeted by more than 100,000 since
1999, as the palm oil and paper industries
shrink their habitat and fatal conflicts
with people increase.
Only
around
13,400
Sumatran
orangutans remain in the wild. The
species is listed as critically endangered by
the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature.
Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.