Japanese probe returns asteroid samples to earthlings

A Japanese probe dropped on earth overnight from Saturday to Sunday precious samples collected from an asteroid located some 300 million kilometers away.

The refrigerator-sized Hayabusa-2 probe was launched in December 2014.

It deposited a hundred milligrams of particles from the asteroid Ryugu (“the dragon’s palace” in Japanese).

Scientists hope they will provide clues to the solar system when it was born 4.6 billion years ago.

The capsule containing the samples entered Earth’s atmosphere shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday Japanese time, creating a fireball similar to the track of a shooting star.

“She’s finally back after six years,” a commentator from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) said as officials from the agency caught on camera loudly expressing their joy.

The capsule made landfall in the desert in southern Australia where it will be recovered in an area covering some 100 square kilometers thanks to the signal emitted by its beacons.

After this express delivery, the work of the probe is not finished: scientists from the Japanese space agency plan to extend its mission by more than ten years by targeting two new asteroids.

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