Japan’s space agency said Monday it has confirmed the presence of black clay samples inside the capsule that the spacecraft Haibusa 2 Brought back from distant asteroids Last week. The leaf-shaped capsule, which is 15 inches in diameter, was dropped from space on December 6 by Hybusa 2 at a site in the remnant-populated Australian Australian desert.
He arrived in Japan last Tuesday for research that will hopefully provide insights into the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said its scientists had discovered a vague amount of sandy black particles by opening the capsule.
“It’s obviously from Ryugu,” JXA said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
JX said it would continue the preliminary examination after a thorough study of the samples later.
Samples were collected from touchdowns built by Haibusa 2 at a distance of more than 190 million miles from Earth on Rayugu last year. The landing was more difficult than expected due to the extremely rocky surface of the asteroid.
Samples were collected from the surface of the Rugu and in the second underground during the first landing. Each was stored separately.
JAXA by Reuters
Scientists hope that the asteroid’s subsurface samples could provide information influenced by space radiation and other environmental factors billions of years ago. JXA scientists say they are particularly interested in the organic matter in the samples to find out how they are distributed in the solar system and if they are related to Earth life.
After nearly a year of study in Japan, some of the samples will be shared with NASA and other international groups for additional research starting in 2022.
Project manager Yuichi Susuda called the mission a “rare event in human history.” It is only the second time antiquity has been marked, untouched material has been brought back to Earth directly from a planet.
Hybusa 2 investigation of Japan, About the size of a refrigerator, launched in December 2014, when thrilling scientists landed on a diamond-shaped asteroid Rayugu, meaning “dragon palace” in Japan, located 185 million miles away.
NASA Osiris-Rex mission recently Collect a template From another nearby Earth asteroid – Bennu, which is similar to Ryugu. The specimen will return to Earth in 2023.
IPS, ISAS / JXA by file
Sophie Lewis contributed to this report.
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