A capsule that contains samples from a distant asteroid, which was released 220,000km (137,500 miles) away from Earth by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft earlier on Saturday, has landed safely in South Australia.
Hayabusa2 left the asteroid Ryugu, about 300m kilometers away, a year ago. After it released the capsule, it moved away from Earth to capture images of the capsule descending toward the planet as it set off on a new expedition to another distant asteroid.
About two hours later, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said it had successfully rerouted Hayabusa2 for its new mission, as beaming staff exchanged fist and elbow touches at the agency’s command centre in Sagamihara, near Tokyo.
Scientists hope the precious samples, which are expected to amount to no more than 0.1 grams of material, could help shed light on the origin of life and the formation of the universe.
The capsule carrying samples entered the atmosphere just before 2.30am Japan time (5.30pm GMT), creating a shooting-star-like fireball.
It landed in the southern Australian desert, where it will be recovered from an area spanning some 100sq km, with search crews guided by beacons emitted as the capsule descended.
People who gathered to watch the capsule’s separation at public viewing events across Japan cheered the success. “I’m really glad that the capsule has been successfully released. My heart was beating fast when I was watching,” said Ichiro Ryoko, a 60-year-old computer engineer who watched at Tokyo Dome.
Hayabusa2’s return with the world’s first asteroid subsurface samples comes weeks after Nasa’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft made a successful touch-and-go grab of surface samples from the asteroid Bennu. China, meanwhile, announced this week that its lunar lander collected underground samples and sealed them within the spacecraft for their return to Earth, as developing nations compete in their space missions.
The capsule, protected by a heat shield, briefly turned into a fireball as it reentered the atmosphere 120km (75 miles) above Earth. At about 10km (6 miles) above ground, a parachute opened to slow its fall and beacon signals were expected to be transmitted to indicate its location.
Jaxa staff set up satellite dishes at several locations in the target area to receive the signals. They also will use a marine radar, drones and helicopters to assist in the search and retrieval of the pan-shaped capsule.
A space rock expert from Australian National University, Trevor Ireland, who is in Woomera for the arrival of the capsule, said he expected the Ryugu samples to be similar to the meteorite that fell in Australia near Murchison in Victoria state more than 50 years ago.
“The Murchison meteorite opened a window on the origin of organics on Earth because these rocks were found to contain simple amino acids as well as abundant water,” Ireland said. “We will examine whether Ryugu is a potential source of organic matter and water on Earth when the solar system was forming, and whether these still remain intact on the asteroid.”
Scientists said they believe the samples, especially ones taken from under the asteroid’s surface, contain valuable data unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors. They are particularly interested in analysing organic materials in the samples.
Jaxa hopes to find clues to how the materials are distributed in the solar system and are related to life on Earth. Makoto Yoshikawa, the mission manager, said 0.1 gram of the dust would be enough to carry out all planned research.
It is not the end of the mission Hayabusa2 started in 2014. It is now heading to a small asteroid called 1998KY26 on a journey slated to take 10 years one way, for possible research including finding ways to prevent meteorites from hitting Earth.
So far, its mission has been successful. Hayabusa2 touched down twice on Ryugu despite the asteroid’s extremely rocky surface and successfully collected data and samples during the one-and-a-half years it spent near Ryugu after it arrived there in June 2018.
During Hayabusa2’s first touchdown in February 2019, it collected surface dust samples. In a more challenging mission in July that year, it collected underground samples from the asteroid for the first time in space history after landing in a crater that it created earlier by blasting the asteroid’s surface.
Asteroids, which orbit the sun but are much smaller than planets, are among the oldest objects in the solar system and therefore may help explain how Earth evolved.
Ryugu in Japanese means “Dragon Palace,” the name of a sea-bottom castle in a Japanese folk tale.
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