Japan’s Haibusa 2 spacecraft is set to deliver a valuable sample of asteroid dust to Earth this weekend and you can see the event live.
The mission will unload a capsule full of Regolith from the asteroid Ryugu through the planet before it sets out to visit another planet in 2031 on its new extended mission.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA) will broadcast two key events tonight and Saturday (December 4–5), during which you can see the return capsule land. You’ll be able to watch webcasts here and on the Space.com homepage, courtesy of Jaxa, as well as the space agency’s YouTube.
The first event is to detach from the return capsule from the main Hybusa 2 spacecraft, which will take place tonight at 11:30 p.m. (Saturday, 0430 GMT Saturday, Dec. 4) JXA will livecast it here on YouTube.
Infographic: Explained Japan’s Haibusa 2 asteroid sample-return mission
The capsule will then enter the Earth’s atmosphere on its way to landing at Woomera, South Australia, the same region in which the previous mission Hayabusa sampled its planet in 2010.
Rentry of the Hybusa 2 capsule will also be broadcast live on YouTube and coverage will begin on Saturday, December 5, at 12 noon EST (1700 GMT). You can also watch it live on space.com.
If the landing plan goes ahead, science teams from around the world will analyze the Aruguna sample to learn more about the early solar system. Asteroids like Rayugu were formed when our solar system was still young, and these asteroids give us an understanding of the structure of our neighborhood before the planets and the moon increase in their current size.
NASA is also running an asteroid sample return. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REX) mission carried out more Regolith than expected on its extreme planet, called Bennu. The spacecraft was safely sampled in October and is expected to return to Earth in 2023.
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