The Japanese spacecraft Haybus-2 capsule returned 4.6 billion-year-old samples from an asteroid called Ryugu. Researchers are now examining them to see if the mission really worked.

The capsule of the Hawaius-2 spacecraft, which arrived on Earth last week, contains black particles that may have come from a distant asteroid, Ryugu, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) said on Monday.

Examination of the samples received in the capsule will confirm that they originate from the asteroid Ryugu. Experts at the Space Agency have previously spoken of the fact that if the samples are as black as Ryugu’s ground, it is almost certainly the asteroid. If samples of Ryugu in the capsule are confirmed to have reached Earth, the success of the mission will be demonstrated.

The spacecraft, which was launched from Earth in 2014, landed on the asteroid twice last year after traveling many millions of kilometers. The purpose of the mission was to collect samples – he was able to sample the underground rock from the space rock by hitting a small man-made crater in the ground with a metal projectile. Mission leaders believed the sample collection could have been successful because they were able to observe dust and flying debris after the crater formed.

The samples returned to Earth in a capsule, in a sealed metal container, and on May 6, Hajabus-2, which passed the planet, dropped the capsule on a desert area of ​​Australia.

The capsule found arrived in Japan two days later, where it was vacuum opened under special conditions to avoid possible infection.

Using an optical microscope, the space agency analyzes the size, color and other characteristics of the samples over six months. A gas sample was also collected from the tank, which was first analyzed in Australia last week and is believed to have also originated from the asteroid.

The Hajabus-2 spacecraft spent more than a year exploring Ryugu before returning to Earth. As it approached our planet, at an altitude of 220,000 kilometers, the capsule was successfully detached from the spacecraft. Then the spacecraft took a new direction: it embarked on another asteroid, 1998KY26, closing in on Earth, which is scheduled to be reached in ten years.

The researchers are primarily interested in samples from the surface of Ryugu because they were not valued for the effects of radiation from space and other environmental factors.

Ryugu is a C-type asteroid that experts believe formed about 4.6 billion years ago at the dawn of the Solar System, so it may contain organic matter that also contributed to the formation of life on Earth, so can provide information about the origin of life.

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