Japanese officials say they are satisfied with the quality of it asteroid material collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth.
Last week, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, described samples collected from the Ryugu asteroid in July 2019. Ryugu is more than 300 million kilometers from the Earth.
Japan’s unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft removed the material after it blown a hole in the asteroid.
The space agency said July 2019 mission aimed at collecting samples from below the surface of Ryugu. During a previous operation in February 2019, Hayabusa2 collected material from another part of the asteroid.
The second collection effort resulted in test pieces as large as 1 centimeter, JAXA officials said. The black material resembled charcoal and was very difficult, they added. It did not break apart when picked up or poured into another container.
Earlier this month, space officials described the samples Hayabusa2 removed on its first mission as smaller, sandy pieces. They were collected from the surface of Ryugu.
Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 and arrived near Ryugu in June 2018. The Japanese space mission wants to use the samples to learn more about how our solar system came to be.
JAXA’s Tomohiro Usui is a space materials scientist. He told The Associated Press that Hayabusa2 for the second set of samples in July one impactor to shoot below the surface of the asteroid. The goal was to collect material that was not affected by space radiation or other environmental factors.
Usui noted that the differences in size indicate different hardness of the rock from the asteroid. “One possibility is that the site of the second touchdown was hard rock and larger particles broke and the part, ‘Said Usui.
JAXA is continuing its investigation of the asteroid samples pending more complete studies next year. After studies in Japan, some samples will be shared with the US space agency NASA and other international space agencies for additional research.
Asteroids orbit the sun, but are much smaller than planets. They are among the oldest objects in the solar system and can help scientists better understand how Earth has evolved over time. The asteroid samples could give researchers a rare opportunity to study these mysterious rocky objects.
Hayabusa2 is now on another mission to a smaller asteroid, named 1998KY26. JAXA expects the plane to take 11 years to reach that asteroid. Hayabusa2’s new mission is to study possible ways to avoid big meteorites from hitting the earth.
The only other country that has successfully collected an asteroid sample is the United States. NASA announced last month that its Osiris-Rex spacecraft had completed the monster operation on the asteroid Bennu. NASA said it was pleased that the spacecraft has collected more sample material than expected.
I am Bryan Lynn.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn has adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in this story
asteroid – n. one of thousands of minor planets orbiting the sun
mission – n. a flight by an aircraft or spacecraft to perform a specific task
charcoal – n. a hard black material created by burning wood with a small amount of air
impactor – n. an object (such as a meteorite) that collides with another body
rock – n. the solid rock that lies beneath the surface of the ground
part – n. a confined space or area that is usually part of something larger and often used to hold a specific thing
meteorite – n. a piece of rock or metal that has fallen to the ground from space: a meteor that reaches the Earth’s surface without burning completely