Shortly after Japan’s Haibusa 2 probe returned to Earth, JX showed some samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu. Those rocks came from the “A” chamber of the probe capsule, which means they were collected during the mission’s first touch in February 2019. Now, JXA Published Photos showing the contents of the “C” chamber of the capsule, which opened on December 21st.
We have not yet confirmed the origin of the artificial object object (). A projectile was used during the collection of the sample and it is possible that it differed from the aluminum sample horn at that time.
– HAYABUSA2 JAXA (@ haya2e_jaxa) December 24, 2020
In JXA’s tweet, he said the agency opened both chambers “B” and “C”. The “B” chamber is empty because it was not used for storage, but the “C” chamber was used to collect samples during the second touchdown of the Haibusa 2 in July 2019. JXA fired explosives into the asteroid before the second touchdown to create a crater. And able to collect samples from underground. Scientists are hoping that Earth samples could provide more clues about the formation and early period of the solar system, as they did not come into space’s hash atmosphere.
