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A billions of years old sample of material from an asteroid has safely reached Earth. The Japanese space probe “Hayabusa2” sliced through the capsule as it passed through Earth.
Scientists had been eagerly awaiting the event: a capsule with the first subsurface samples of an asteroid landed on Earth. The sample fell in the intended area, the desert of the Woomera test site for the aerospace industry in South Australia, said the Japanese space agency Jaxa.
The capsule is now traveling to Japan. First, the individual components of the samples will be cured and described before microscopic, mineralogical and geochemical investigations begin in the middle of next year. Scientists hope to trace the origins of the solar system and life on earth by analyzing the samples.
4.6 billion year old material
The Japanese space probe “Hayabusa2” (“Peregrine Falcon 2”) had separated the capsule with a diameter of 40 centimeters when it passed by the Earth. Researchers expect 4.6 billion-year-old material from the asteroid Ryugu, which originates in the early days of the solar system, in the small container. In 2010, the previous probe “Hayabusa” brought soil samples from an asteroid to Earth for the first time.
Following the current success, “Hayabusa2” will investigate the near-Earth asteroid “1998KY26”. It should get there in ten years.
DLR involved
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) also participated in the spectacular mission with the “Mascot” lander developed in cooperation with the French space agency CNES. It landed on the asteroid Ryugu in October 2018 and explored it for hours, until the battery ran out.
