SUCH – Japan’s space agency (JAXA) said signals indicated that a capsule dropped by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft had landed in a remote area in South Australia, as planned. It contains the expected samples of an asteroid that could help to decipher the origin of life on our planet.
Hayabusa2 sent the small capsule towards Earth on Saturday, to deliver samples that scientists hope will offer clues to the origin of the solar system, the Japan Aerospace Agency said.
In the early hours of Australian time Sunday, the capsule briefly turned into a fireball as it entered the atmosphere 120 kilometers (75 miles) above Earth’s surface. At about 10 kilometers up, a parachute was programmed to open and the capsule to transmit signals to indicate its location.
Such signals were detected, indicating that the parachute was successfully opened and that the capsule landed in a remote and sparsely populated area in Woomera in eastern Australia, JAXA official Akitaka Kishi said. He added that JAXA personnel in a helicopter were going to conduct an aerial search of the capsule.
Recovery of the capsule, which is about 40 centimeters in diameter, will begin after sunset, he said.
Hayabusa2 left the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth. After approaching our planet and dropping the capsule on Saturday, it moved away from Earth to take pictures of the capsule’s descent, while launching a new expedition to another distant asteroid.
The capsule descended 220,000 kilometers into space after separating from Hayabusa2, in a difficult operation that required very precise control.
About two hours later, JAXA said it would have successfully redirected the Hayabusa2 to its new mission, as its exulting staff exchanged fist and elbow bumps at the agency’s command center in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Hugs were ruled out due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have made it this far successfully and when we complete our final mission of recovering the capsule, it will be perfect,” Mission Chief Makoto Yoshikawa said from the command center at an event streamed live on the internet.
The samples, mostly from the asteroid’s surface, contain valuable data unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors common on Earth, scientists say. They are primarily interested in analyzing the organic matter contained in the samples.
JAXA hopes to find clues about the distribution of materials in the solar system and their relationship to life on Earth.
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