On the left is soil removed from chamber A, on the right is soil removed from chamber C. The arrow points to an aluminum particle.
JAXA
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Japanese specialists have successfully retrieved a soil sample of the near-surface layer of the asteroid Ryugu from a container delivered to Earth by the Hayabusa-2 interplanetary station. Thus, the process of extracting soil samples was completed, and the samples of the asteroid’s material were poured into separate storage containers, reported on the mission’s twitter.
The return capsule with the soil of the near-Earth 900-meter asteroid Ryugu was dropped into the atmosphere of the Earth by the interplanetary station “Hayabusa-2” in early December this year. Thus, the device fulfilled its main task of extracting and transporting the asteroid’s material, as well as studying this celestial body from orbit and using several descent modules.
After the capsule found, a container with soil was removed from it and transported to a research center in Sagamihara in Japan. In the course of further disassembly of the container, the world’s first sample of the gas mixture released from the soil was obtained, determined mass of samples, and opened chamber “A” of the trap containing the substance obtained from surfaces Ryugu, and soil particles removed, found at the bottom of the container.
On December 21, 2020, researchers opened chamber “B”, which remained empty, and chamber “C”, where they found particles ejected onto the surface of the asteroid near-surface layer… The largest particles from chamber “C” are about a centimeter; Among them, a foreign object was found, which, according to scientists, is a thin aluminum particle that flew off the mouth of the sampler during the second soil sampling operation.
Currently, the contents of chambers “A” and “C” are in separate containers, where they will be stored under vacuum conditions. In January 2021, scientists will begin the process of sorting particles by size and studying their physical properties and composition, the work will be carried out in an atmosphere of pure molecular nitrogen, this is necessary in order to protect the soil from contact with oxygen from the earth’s atmosphere.
You can read about what the new Hayabusa-2 has learned about Ryugu and the details of this unusual interplanetary program in the material “Collect the past bit by bit” and in a separate subject.
Alexander Voytiuk
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