Experts are examining deleted fragments of asteroid

Sun – The fragments of the asteroid that sent Japan a space probe to look like tiny coal blocks or grains of blackish sand.

The rocks, just one centimeter thick, were brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 probe on its journey to the asteroid Ryugu, located more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth.

The spacecraft landed on the Australian plains and the samples were flown to Japan earlier this month.

The sand samples described by the Japanese space agency last week came from the spacecraft’s first mission, in April 2019.

The largest fragments come from the compartment allocated for the second mission to Ryugu, said Tomohiro Usui, an expert space scientist.

To get the second set of samples in July last year, Hayabusa2 drilled deep into the surface of the asteroid and detonated an explosive, rushing to collect the matter before it was contaminated by space radiation.