TOKYO (AP) – A Japanese spacecraft is nearing Earth after a year of travel with soil samples and data that could give a clue to the origin of the solar system, a space agency official said Friday.
The Haibusa 2 spacecraft left the planet Raigu, about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth, a year ago and is expected to launch a capsule with valuable specimens in South Australia on December 6.
Scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency believe that the samples, especially those taken from the surface of asteroids, are not affected by space radiation and other environmental factors.
Makoto Yoshikawa, Hibusa 2 project mission manager, said scientists are particularly interested in analyzing organic matter in Ryugu soil samples.
“Biological substances are the origin of life on Earth, but we still don’t know where they came from,” Yoshikawa said. “We hope to find the key to the origin of life on Earth by analyzing the details of the organic matter returned by Hayabusa 2.”
The space agency, JXA, Australia plans to launch a capsule with Australia’s remote, sparsely populated specimens 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) into space, a major challenge that requires precision control. The capsule, protected by a heat shield, will turn into a fireball during re-entry into the atmosphere 200 kilometers (125 miles) above the ground. About 10 kilometers (6 miles) above the ground, the parachute will open to prepare for landing, and beacon signals will be spread to indicate its location.
JAXA personnel have set up satellite dishes at several locations in the target area to capture the signals, while marine radar, drones and helicopters have also been set up to assist in the search and rescue mission.
Without these measures, finding a leaf-shaped capsule with a diameter of 40 centimeters (15 inches) would be “extremely difficult,” Yoshikawa told reporters.
For Haibusa 2, it is not the end of the mission that began in 2014. After leaving the capsule, it will return to space and move to another distant small planet called 1998KY26, which will go on a journey of 10 years.
Haibusa 2 touched Ryugu twice despite its extremely rocky surface, and successfully collected data and samples over the 15 years since arriving there in June 2018.
In the first touchdown in February 2019, he collected samples of surface dust. In July, he collected underground samples from the planet for the first time in space history after he landed in a previously created pit by blasting the planet’s surface.
Scientists say that asteroid soil samples contain traces of carbon and organic matter. JX hopes to find clues as to how the materials in the solar system are distributed and related to life on Earth.
Asteroids, which orbit the Sun but are much smaller than the planets, are among the oldest things in the solar system and can therefore help explain how the Earth evolved.
It took the spacecraft 36 years to reach Rayugu, but home travel was very limited due to the current locations of Rayugu and Earth.
Ryugu in Japanese means “Dragon Palace,” the name of a fort at the bottom of the sea in Japanese folklore.
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