Asteroid Samples Returned To Earth by JAXA

The Japanese space agency JAXA has successfully returned asteroid samples to Earth following a 2 billion mile journey through space. On Saturday, the Hayabusa2’s reentry capsule parachuted down to Australia’s remote desert Woomera Prohibited Area carrying material gathered from the Ryugu near-Earth asteroid during two sampling operations.

“Hayabusa2’s samples should give us an extraordinary opportunity to measure with high accuracy the composition and other material properties of its carbonaceous asteroid target."

Patrick Michel, CNRS Director of Research of France’s Côte d'Azur Observatory,

The astroid samples were collected during an initial touchdown sampling on Ryugu in February 2019, followed by a second one in July of that year that collected subsurface samples after blasting the face of the asteroid with an explosive impactor.

Patrick Michel, CNRS Director of Research of France’s Côte d'Azur Observatory, serves as co-investigator and interdisciplinary scientist on the Japanese mission and as Principal Investigator on ESA’s Hera planetary asteroid defense mission. “Hayabusa2’s samples should give us an extraordinary opportunity to measure with high accuracy the composition and other material properties of its carbonaceous asteroid target," Michael said.

"The 900-m (2,950-foot) diameter Ryugu has a spinning top shape; its density is very low and based on the results of the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) impact experiment performed in April 2019, its surface appears cohesionless. These findings are extremely relevant to planetary defense, which is the prime goal of the Hera mission.”

Hayabusa2 was launched December 3, 2014, and arrived at asteroid Ryugu in June 2018. Ryugu is a C-type asteroid believed to be rich in water and organic matter. The asteroid samples collected will help scientists determine the composition of the asteroid, as well as what our solar system was like during its formative period.

It will not be known exactly how much material the spacecraft was able to collect until it is transported from Australia back to Japan and analyzed.

Along with payloads designed for sampling, Hayabusa2 carried multiple science payloads for remote sensing, and four small rovers designed to study the surface of Ryugu and analyze the geological and environmental context of the samples that have been returned to Earth, according to Wikipedia.

(Source: JAXA and ESA news releases and a cited. Images provided by JAXA)