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After opening a capsule that returned to Earth from space last week, Japanese scientists have found a black rock and an asteroid-shaped chunk of earth inside it. The Hayabusa-to spacecraft sent by the Japanese space agency ISAS collected the fragments of the asteroid called Raiyugu and sent it to Earth in a capsule.
One of the few surviving substances that made up the solar system is the asteroid Rayugu. Not only that: this is the first time that a large amount of rock has been sent to Earth from the depths of space (deep space). The Hayabusa-II spacecraft was able to reach Raiyugu for the first time in June 2016. And in February 2019, Hayabusa-2 landed on that kilometer-wide asteroid for the first time. The asteroid was then “fired” with a metal bullet called tantalum. The pieces that fall into it are collected with a tube.
The capsule carrying the Hayabusa-Tour specimen returned to Earth on Saturday, December 5. With the help of a parachute, he landed safely in the Umera desert, Australia. So far, Japanese scientists have only opened one of the three cells in the capsule. In one of the two remaining cells, the underground material from Raiyugur has been collected.
The scientists wanted to collect from this ryegu pure matter that has not changed in billions of years due to space radiation or other reasons. That is why they had to use explosives to hit the surface of the asteroid by launching something like a missile made of copper. This created a 20 meter wide hole in Raiyugur’s chest.
Then Hayabusa-II descends on it and collects particles of pure cosmic matter from that hole. Scientists will examine this capsule cell later. The Japanese space agency also announced that the gas collected from inside the capsule was also obtained from the asteroid.
Scientists speculate that the gas may have been trapped within the collected soil and rocks and that is what was released. This means that it is the first gas sample to be collected from deep space.
In the solar system, rocky planets like Earth are made of the same type of rock; these asteroids are made from the same rock. But for some reason they are not attached to any of the planets that orbit the sun, but rather they orbit in space in a different way. Of these, Rayyugu is a special class of asteroids, the oldest class of cosmic rocks. They are called C-type asteroids or “carbonaceous asteroids.”
It is believed that in the early days of the solar system, elements necessary for life on Earth, including water, may have come from these asteroids. When the Japanese Hayabusa-to-Ryugu spacecraft arrived in 2016, scientists were shocked to see its black color.
That’s why when the spacecraft approached the asteroid’s surface, the controllers had to re-measure the laser sensors. Source: BBC
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