Yesterday, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 released the capsule containing the samples taken from asteroid Ryugu to Earth. The capsule landed in Australia’s Woomera region. A few hours later, the space agency JAXA crew confirmed that they recovered the capsule and started preparations for its transport to the laboratory in Japan where it will be opened to start examining its contents.
The Hayabusa 2 space probe left asteroid Ryugu in November 2019 after successfully conducting two sample collections in two different areas. Hayabusa 2 is equipped with various instruments that examined Ryugu, but the possibility of conducting in-depth analyzes of soil and subsoil samples could offer much more information on an object that can be considered a kind of fossil dating back to the time of the solar system formation. Small samples could offer great advances in understanding the origins of the solar system and perhaps even the sources of water and organic materials that arrived on Earth soon after its formation.
The capsule containing the samples was dropped when the Hayabusa 2 space probe was about 220,000 kilometers from Earth. That’s one of the reasons why it was an operation with a certain margin of risk, but in the end the capsule successfully landed in the Woomera region, Australia, where it was quickly recovered to be transported to Japan.
The samples of the asteroid Ryugu will remain sealed until they arrive in the laboratory in Japan used by JAXA to proceed to the opening of the capsule in a protected way, to prevent the contents’ contamination. For the mission scientists, another part of the job begins.
After the release of the capsule containing Ryugu’s samples, the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft set off on a new mission as its ion engine still has enough xenon for a new journey. A flyby of asteroid (98943) 2001 CC 21 is scheduled in 2026 and especially in 2031 it will reach the small asteroid 1998 KY 26. Its primary mission has already been a success, and JAXA hopes to obtain more information on other asteroids.
