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Representatives from Japan’s JAXA space agency said Tuesday they have found more amounts of soil and gases than originally expected in a small capsule that the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft collected from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.
Also in Tuesday’s presentation were photographs showing the contents of the capsule, reports Ukrinform with reference to the AR.
By first opening the capsule, the scientists confirmed that they had found black grains that looked like sand. Until Tuesday, scientists were able to collect even more soil and gas samples than expected, expanding the scope of the investigation.
JAXA spokesperson Yuichi Tsuda called the successful return of asteroid gas and soil samples “an important milestone” in science.
Recall, on December 5, the Hayabusa-2 automatic probe of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was able to successfully deliver two rock samples from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth, having traveled 6 billion kilometers.
Last week, the capsule arrived at the JAXA Institute for Space and Astronautics in Sagamihara, near Tokyo.
The Hayabusa 2 probe landed twice on the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples. However, it has only now been confirmed for the first time that the capsule actually contains content.
A complete analysis of the contents of the capsule may take about 6 months.
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