Japanese Space Agency JAXA's Mission Brings Back Asteroid Samples To Earth
In the light across the night sky, Japanese space probe Hayabusa-2 collected samples from a distant asteroid and arrived on Earth on Sunday.
Japanese space probe Hayabusa-2 collected samples from a distant asteroid and arrived on Earth on Sunday.
According to AFP, scientists say that the precious samples could help shed light on the origin of life and the formation of the universe. They are expected to amount to no more than 0.1 grams of material.
The capsule carrying the samples entered the atmosphere just before 2:30 am - Japan time - and created a shooting-star-like fireball as it entered Earth's atmosphere.
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"Six years and it has finally come back to Earth," an official narrating a live broadcast of the arrival said. Officials from Japan's space agency JAXA were seen cheering in excitement.
JAXA confirmed the retrieval of the samples within a few hours.
"We found the capsule! Together with the parachute! Wow!," the mission's Twitter account wrote on the micro-blogging website.
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We found the capsule!
〞 HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) December 5, 2020
Together with the parachute!
Wow!
(Collection Team M)#Hayabusa2#反支少今ㄡ#AsteroidExplorerHayabusa2 #HAYA2Report
The capsule was recovered from the southern Australian desert. It will now be processed before being sent to Japan. The samples collected by Hayabusa-2 were collected from the asteroid Ryugu, which is about 300 million kilometres from planet Earth.
The material collected from the asteroid is believed to be the same since the formation of the universe.
Images of the re-entry capsule fireball! We have posted short videos of the re-entry capsule as it passed through the Earth's atmosphere, captured from near Coober Pedy in Australia. Link: https://t.co/wFHcICc7L1
〞 HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) December 5, 2020
Larger celestial bodies like Earth went through radical changes including heating and solidifying, changing the composition of the materials on their surface and below.
However, Hayabusa-2's mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa said, "When it comes to smaller planets or smaller asteroids, these substances were not melted, and therefore it is believed that substances from 4.6 billion years ago are still there."
He added, "We still don't know the origin of life on Earth and through this Hayabusa-2 mission, if we are able to study and understand these organic materials from Ryugu, it could be that these organic materials were the source of life on Earth."
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The capsule Earth return is also scheduled to be broadcast from Japan and Australia.
〞 HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) December 5, 2020
Hayabusa2 capsule Earth return online broadcast:
12/6 (Sun) 02:00 ~ 03:10 (max. ext. 03:30) JST.
Japanese:https://t.co/k8LhDCXSDq
English translation:https://t.co/5up0G9Npur
Half the Hayabusa-2's samples will be shared between JAXA, US space agency NASA and other international organisations, and the rest kept for future study as advances are made in analytic technology.
