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Representatives from the Japanese space agency JAXA have discovered more than originally estimated the amount of soil and gases in a small capsule that the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft collected from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.
Also in the presentation were photographs in which you can see the contents of the capsule, reports AP.
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It is indicated that first, when opening the capsule, the scientists confirmed that they had found black grains, similar to sand.
But already before December 15, scientists managed to collect even more soil and gas samples than expected, which should broaden the scope of the investigation.
JAXA spokesperson Yuichi Tsuda called the successful return of asteroid gas and soil samples “an important milestone” in science.
It is estimated that a complete analysis of the contents of the capsule may take about 6 months.
Recall that on December 5, 2020, JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 automated probe was able to successfully deliver two rock samples from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth, having traveled 6 billion kilometers.
Subsequently, the capsule arrived at the JAXA Institute for Space and Astronautics in the city of Sagamihara near Tokyo, Japan.
The Hayabusa-2 probe is known to have 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.
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