A small capsule of asteroid soil samples dropped by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft from 136,700 miles into space landed in the Australian Outback as scheduled on Sunday, December 6.
A JAXA member retrieves a capsule dropped by Hayabusa2 in Woomera, South Australia
WHAT IS THE MISSION OF HAYABUSA2?
Launched on December 3, 2014, the crewless Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed twice on the asteroid Ryugu, more than 190 million miles away.
The asteroid’s extremely rocky surface forced the mission team to revise its landing plans, but the spacecraft successfully collected data and ground samples during the 1½ years it spent near Ryugu after its arrival in June 2018.
On its first landing in February 2019, the spacecraft collected surface dust samples, and Hayabusa2 later shot a crater into the asteroid’s surface and then collected underground samples from the asteroid.
Japan hopes to tap into the expertise and technology used in the Hayabusa2 in the future, perhaps in its 2024 MMX sample return mission to a Mars moon.
WHY AN ASTEROID?
Asteroids are among the oldest objects in the solar system and therefore may hold clues as to how Earth evolved. Scientists say it requires studying samples of such celestial objects.
Ryugu means ‘Dragon Palace’ in Japanese, the name of a seabed castle in a Japanese folk tale.
Japan’s asteroid research may also contribute to resource development and find ways to protect Earth from collisions with large meteorites, JAXA vice president Hitoshi Kuninaka said.
WHAT’S IN THE CAPSULE?
The pan-shaped capsule, about 15 inches in diameter, contains soil samples taken from two different locations on the asteroid.
Some gases may also be embedded in the samples. The preliminary inspection in a lab in Australia was to extract and analyze the gas.
The capsule returns to Japan on Tuesday. It will be taken to JAXA’s research center in Sagamihara, near Tokyo.
WHAT CAN ASTEROID MONSTERS TELL US?
Scientists say the samples, especially samples taken below the asteroid’s surface, include data from 4.6 billion years ago that was unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors.
They are particularly interested in studying organic materials in the samples to find out how they are distributed in the solar system and if and how they are related to life on Earth.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa said he believes analysis of the samples could help explain the origins of the solar system and how water helped bring life to Earth.
Fragments brought from Ryugu can also tell the collision and thermal history.
After about a year, some samples will be shared with NASA and other international scientists.
About 40 percent of that will be stored for future research. JAXA mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa said just 0.1 grams of the sample may be enough to conduct the planned study, although he said more would be better.
WHY IS HAYABUSA SUCH A BIG DEAL FOR JAPAN?
Hayabusa2 is a successor to the original Hayabusa mission that Japan launched in 2003.
After a series of technical setbacks, it sent back samples from another asteroid, Itokawa, in 2010. The spacecraft was burned in an unsuccessful reentry, but the capsule reached Earth.
Many Japanese were in awe of the return of the first Hayabusa spaceship, which was considered a miracle given all the problems it faced.
JAXA’s subsequent Venus and Mars missions were also flawed. Tsuda said the Hayabusa2 team has used all the hard lessons from the previous missions to achieve a 100 times better than ‘perfect’ result.
Some members of the audience watching the event wept as the capsule successfully entered the atmosphere and flared briefly in a fireball.
WHAT’S NEXT?
About an hour after separating from the capsule 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) from Earth, Hayabusa2 was sent on another mission to the smaller asteroid, 1998KY26.
That’s an 11-year one-way trip. The mission is to study possible ways to prevent large meteorites from colliding with Earth.