This photo, provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA) on Thursday, December 24, 2020, shows soil samples inside a box of capsules brought back by Hayabusa 2, at Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japanese space officials said Thursday that in addition to the black sand granules they found last week, they collected and brought back more eclipsed clay samples from the Haibusa 2 spacecraft, raising hopes of finding clues to the origin of the solar system. (AP by JXA)
It looks like small pieces of charcoal, but the clay samples collected from a planet and returned to Earth by a Japanese spacecraft were hardly disappointing.
The specimens described on Thursday by Japanese space officials are as large as 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) and are hard rock, breaking when taken or poured into another container. Small black, sandy granules that were collected in the spacecraft and returned separately last week.
Last year’s Haibusa 2 spacecraft found two sets of samples last year at two locations on the asteroid Ryugu, 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth. It was launched from space at the target of the Australian outback, and samples were brought to Japan in early December.
The sandy granules described last week by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency were from the spacecraft’s first touchdown in April 2019.
There were large pieces from the box allocated for the second touchdown on Rayugu, said space material scientist Tomohiro Usui.
To obtain a second set of specimens in July last year, Hybusa 2 left Effective to blast beneath the planet’s surface, collecting material from the craft so that it would not be affected by space radiation and other environmental factors.
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This optical microscope photo, provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA) on Thursday, December 24, 2020, shows soil samples inside the C-box of the capsule brought back by Hayabusa 2 in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japanese space officials said Thursday that in addition to the black sand granules they found last week, they collected and brought back more eclipsed clay samples from the Haibusa 2 spacecraft, raising hopes of finding clues to the origin of the solar system. (AP by JXA)
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This December 8, 2020, photo, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA) Haibusa 2 project manager Yuichi Shisuda speaking during a press conference after a capsule containing samples from the planet’s soil returning to Japan in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Officials at Japan’s space agency said Tuesday, Dec. 15, that they found more than the expected amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule that the country’s Haibusa 2 spacecraft brought back from a distant planet earlier this month, a mission it hailed as a landmark for planets. Was. Research. (AP, file by UU Nakajima / Kyodo News)
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This photo, provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA), shows soil samples seen inside the container of a re-entry capsule brought back by Haibusa 2 on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at Sagamihara near Tokyo. Japan’s space officials agency said Tuesday it had found more than the expected amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule returning the country’s Haibusa 2 spacecraft from a distant planet this month, a sample-return mission it hailed as a landmark for planetary exploration. )
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This photo, provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA), shows clay samples inside a container of re-entry capsules brought back by Haybusa 2 on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japan’s space agency officials said Tuesday they have found more than the expected amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule that brought the country’s Haibusa 2 spacecraft back from distant asteroids this month, a sample-return mission they hailed as a landmark for planetary research. (Via JXA AP)
Usui said the size difference indicates the different hardness of the bedrock on the asteroid. “One possibility is that the location of the second touchdown was a hard bedrock and large particles broke and entered the box.”
JX will continue preliminary testing of asteroid samples before a full study next year. Scientists hope the samples will provide an understanding of the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. Following the study in Japan, some samples will be shared with NASA and other international space agencies for additional research.
Meanwhile, Haibusa 2, another small and distant asteroid, is on an 11-year expedition in 1998KY26, trying to study the defense potential against a meteorite that could fly to Earth.
Japan’s space agency gets enough soil, gas from the eclipse
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