A small capsule containing samples of asteroid soil that was launched from 136,700 miles into space by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 landed as planned in the Australian Outback on Sunday, December 6.
A JAXA member retrieves a capsule dropped by Hayabusa2 in Woomera, South Australia
WHAT IS THE HAYABUSA2 MISSION?
Launched on December 3, 2014, the unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed twice on the asteroid Ryugu, more than 190 million miles away
The asteroid’s extremely rocky surface forced the mission team to review the landing plans, but the spacecraft successfully collected data and soil samples during the year and a half that it spent close to Ryugu after arriving there in June 2018.
On its first touch in February 2019, the spacecraft collected dust samples from the surface, and Hayabusa2 later exploded a crater on the asteroid’s surface and then collected underground samples from the asteroid.
Japan hopes to use the experience and technology used in Hayabusa2 in the future, perhaps on its 2024 MMX sample return mission to a Martian moon.
WHY AN ASTEROID?
Asteroids are among the oldest objects in the solar system and, therefore, may contain clues to how the Earth evolved. Scientists say that this requires studying samples of such celestial objects.
Ryugu in Japanese means ‘Dragon Palace’, the name of a castle under the sea in a Japanese folk tale.
Japan’s research on asteroids can also contribute to resource development and find ways to protect the Earth from collisions with large meteorites, said Hitoshi Kuninaka, vice president of JAXA.
WHAT IS WITHIN THE CAPSULE?
The pan-shaped capsule, about 15 inches in diameter, contains soil samples taken from two different locations on the asteroid.
Some gases may also be incorporated in the samples. The preliminary inspection in a laboratory in Australia was to extract and analyze the gas.
The capsule is due to return to Japan on Tuesday. He will be taken to the JAXA research center in Sagamihara, near Tokyo.
WHAT CAN ASTEROID SAMPLES TELL US?
Scientists say the samples, especially those taken from the asteroid’s surface, contain data from 4.6 billion years ago, unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors.
They are particularly interested in studying the organic materials in the samples to learn how they are distributed in the solar system and whether or how they are related to life on Earth.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa said he believed that analyzing the samples could help explain the origins of the solar system and how water helped bring life to Earth.
Fragments brought in from Ryugu can also tell his story of collision and thermal.
After about a year, some of the samples will be shared with NASA and other international scientists.
About 40 percent of them will be stored for future research. JAXA mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa said that just 0.1 gram of the sample may be sufficient to conduct the planned research, although he said more would be better.
WHY IS HAYABUSA SO BIG FOR JAPAN?
Hayabusa2 is a successor to the original Hayabusa mission that Japan launched in 2003.
After a series of technical setbacks, he sent back samples from another asteroid, Itokawa, in 2010. The spacecraft was burned in a failed reentry, but the capsule managed to reach Earth.
Many Japanese were impressed with the return of the first Hayabusa spacecraft, which was considered a miracle due to all the problems it encountered.
JAXA’s subsequent missions to Venus and Mars were also flawed. Tsuda said that the Hayabusa2 team used all the lessons learned from previous missions to achieve a result 100 times better than “perfect”.
Some members of the public who watched the event shed tears when the capsule successfully entered the atmosphere, burning briefly in a fireball.
WHAT IS THE NEXT?
About an hour after separating from the capsule 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) from Earth, Hayabusa2 was sent on another mission to the smaller asteroid, 1998KY26.
This is an unilateral 11-year journey. The mission is to study possible ways to prevent large meteorites from colliding with Earth.