Samples from an asteroid that was about 483 million kilometers from Earth arrived in Japan yesterday to applause and smiles, the climax of a six-year odyssey by a space probe.
Named for the peregrine falcon, the Hayabusa2 blasted off for the asteroid, Ryugu, in December 2014, overcoming an unexpectedly rough landing surface to collect samples of asteroid dust in a capsule.
That capsule plunged to earth in Australia on Sunday and was flown to Japan.
Photo: AP
The final stage of its journey was by truck to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) research center outside Tokyo, where it was greeted by a crowd of excited researchers.
“The capsule has returned, I was out at the gate to see it,” project manager Yuichi Tsuda told a news conference. “The realization that it had gone all the way to the asteroid and back came welling up, and I felt as if something had squeezed my heart.”
Scientists say that the sample might contain organic matter that could have contributed to life on Earth.
Photo: AP
The Hayabasa2 orbited Ryugu for a few months before landing, then used small explosives to blast a crater and collected the resulting debris, with the expectation that about 100mg might have been gathered.
After dropping off the capsule, it changed course, heading back into space.
Travel and landing restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic were another hurdle with researchers at one point considering whether to postpone the capsule’s return.
Next up is opening the capsule. By as early as next week it might be known whether sufficient material has been collected, researcher Tomohiro Usui said, adding that the work would be extremely delicate.
“We need to be careful not to break the capsule or knock it over,” Usui said. “Once that’s done, the stress will ease up a bit.”
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