Japan space agency officials on Sundayhailed the arrival of rare asteroid samples on Earth after they werecollected by space probe Hayabusa-2 during an unprecedented mission, reports AFP.
In a streak of light across the night sky, a capsule containing theprecious specimens taken from a distant asteroid arrived on Earth after beingdropped off by the probe.
Scientists hope the samples, which are expected to amount to no more than0.1 grams of material, could help shed light on the origin of life and the formation of the universe.
“After six years of space travel, the box of treasures was able to land inAustralia’s Woomera this morning,” Databus-2 project manager Yuichi Tsuda told a press conference.
The capsule carrying samples entered the atmosphere just before 2:30 am Japan time (1730 GMT Saturday), creating a shooting-star-like fireball as itentered Earth’s atmosphere en route to the landing site Down Under.
A few hours later, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmedthe samples had been recovered, with help from beacons emitted by the capsuleas it plummeted to Earth after separating from Hayabusa-2 on Saturday, whilethe fridge-sized probe was about 220,000 kilometres (137,000 miles) away. “The capsule landed in perfect form, and the probe is moving on to anothermission,” Tsuda said.
The capsule, recovered in the southern Australian desert, will now be inthe hands of scientists performing initial analysis including checking forany gas emissions.
It will then be sent to Japan.
Megan Clark, chief of the Australian Space Agency, congratulated the“wonderful achievement”.
“2020 has been a difficult year all around the world” but the Hayabusa-2helped “renew our faith in the world, and our trust (in) and appreciation” of the science of the outer universe, she said.
– Samples with organic material –
The samples were collected by Hayabusa-2, which launched in 2014, from theasteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometres from Earth.
The probe collected both surface dust and pristine material from below thesurface that was stirred up by firing an “impactor” into the asteroid.
The material is believed to be unchanged since the time the universe wasformed. Larger celestial bodies like Earth went through radical changes includingheating and solidifying, changing the composition of the materials on their surface and below.
But “when it comes to smaller planets or smaller asteroids, thesesubstances were not melted, and therefore it is believed that substances from4.6 billion years ago are still there,” Hayabusa-2 mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters before the capsule arrived.
Scientists are especially keen to discover whether the samples containorganic matter, which could have helped seed life on Earth.
“We still don’t know the origin of life on Earth and through this Hayabusa-2 mission, if we are able to study and understand these organic materialsfrom Ryugu, it could be that these organic materials were the source of lifeon Earth,” Yoshikawa said.
“We’ve never had materials like this before… water and organic matterswill be subject to research, so this is a very valuable opportunity,” saidMotoo Ito, senior researcher at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science andTechnology.
Half of Hayabusa-2’s samples will be shared between JAXA, US space agencyNASA and other international organisations, and the rest kept for future study as advances are made in analytic technology.
– More tasks for Hayabusa-2 –
The work is not over for Hayabusa-2, which will now begin an extendedmission targeting two new asteroids.
It will complete a series of orbits around the sun for around six yearsbefore approaching the first of the asteroids — named 2001 CC21 — in July2026.
The probe will not get as close as it did to Ryugu, but scientists hope itwill be able to photograph CC21 and that the fly-by will help developknowledge about how to protect Earth against asteroid impact.
Hayabusa-2 will then head towards its main target, 1998 KY26, a ball-shapedasteroid with a diameter of just 30 metres.
When the probe arrives at the asteroid in July 2031, it will beapproximately 300 million kilometres from Earth.
It will observe and photograph the asteroid, no easy task given that it isspinning rapidly, rotating on its axis about every 10 minutes.
But Hayabusa-2 is unlikely to land and collect samples, as it probablywould not have enough fuel to return them to Earth.
