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After a space trip of more than five billion kilometers, the Japanese space probe “Hayabusa 2” has finished its last maneuver with great success: it dropped a capsule containing samples of the asteroid Ryugu over the desert of South Australia. The Japanese space agency Jaxa announced. The samples are 4.6 billion year old material. Researchers want to use it to trace the origins of the solar system.
The capsule is supposed to enter Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday night (CET) and is then slowed down by the atmosphere as heat develops. Around ten kilometers above Australia, a parachute will be deployed around 6.30pm (CET), in which the capsule flies towards land. It should land in a desert area in South Australia, Woomera’s test site for the aerospace industry.
The samples had been collected in several spectacular maneuvers last year: In late February 2019, “Hayabusa 2” briefly landed on the asteroid and fired a ball at its surface to kick up dust for the samples. In April 2019, it even blew up a crater in the celestial body.
The analysis is scheduled to begin in June.
The eagerly awaited landing of the capsule marks the completion of the mission that began from Japan in December 2014. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) also participated in the spectacular project with the “Mascot” lander. The German-French-Japanese mission should provide new insights into the formation of our solar system and the possibility of repelling an asteroid if it threatens a collision with Earth. Scientists suspect that there is organic matter and water from 4.6 billion years ago on the asteroid Ryugu.
The first analyzes of the material will begin in Japan next June. The Japanese space agency Jaxa will make some of the samples available to NASA and, from 2022, also to researchers from other countries. DLR is also planning investigations.
While the capsule is expected to reach Earth, the “Hayabusa 2” probe itself is already embarking on its next mission. It should head to another near-Earth asteroid and get there in about ten years.
