Images from the surface of asteroid Ryugu show rocks similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.

["Jaumann, R", "Schmitz, N", "Ho, T-M", "Schr\u00f6der, S E", "Otto, K A", "Stephan, K", "Elgner, S", "Krohn, K", "Preusker, F", "Scholten, F", "Biele, J", "Ulamec, S", "Krause, C", "Sugita, S", "Matz, K-D", "Roatsch, T", "Parekh, R", "Mottola, S", "Grott, M", "Michel, P", "Trauthan, F", "Koncz, A", "Michaelis, H", "Lange, C", "Grundmann, J T", "Maibaum, M", "Sasaki, K", "Wolff, F", "Reill, J", "Moussi-Soffys, A", "Lorda, L", "Neumann, W", "Vincent, J-B", "Wagner, R", "Bibring, J-P", "Kameda, S", "Yano, H", "Watanabe, S", "Yoshikawa, M", "Tsuda, Y", "Okada, T", "Yoshimitsu, T", "Mimasu, Y", "Saiki, T", "Yabuta, H", "Rauer, H", "Honda, R", "Morota, T", "Yokota, Y", "Kouyama, T"]

Science (New York, N.Y.) 2019

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The near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu is a 900-m-diameter dark object expected to contain primordial material from the solar nebula. The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) landed on Ryugu's surface on 3 October 2018. We present images from the MASCOT camera (MASCam) taken during the descent and while on the surface. The surface is covered by decimeter- to meter-sized rocks, with no deposits of fine-grained material. Rocks appear either bright, with smooth faces and sharp edges, or dark, with a cauliflower-like, crumbly surface. Close-up images of a rock of the latter type reveal a dark matrix with small, bright, spectrally different inclusions, implying that it did not experience extensive aqueous alteration. The inclusions appear similar to those in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.