Japanese scientists have gotten their first look inside the sample capsule from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft that contained asteroid dust from a near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu.
As reported by Space.com, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft launched in 2014 and arrived at Ryugu in 2018. It spent about a year and a half observing and sampling the asteroid before leaving to deposit the sample capsule back in Earth's atmosphere.
On December 5, the capsule landed in the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) brought the capsule back to Japan.A large number of particles are confirmed to be in “sample chamber A” inside the collected capsule (~11:10 JST on 12/15). This is thought to be the sample from the first touchdown on Ryugu. The photo looks brown, but our team says “black”! The sample return is a great success! pic.twitter.com/34vIx17zOX
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) December 15, 2020
"We confirmed black grains thought to be from Ryugu were inside," mission representatives wrote on Twitter. "This is outside the main chambers, and likely particles attached to the sample catcher entrance."
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft was able to get these samples by grabbing rocks from the asteroids surface and shooting a copper bullet into the asteroid to uncover subsurface material. These two types of samples "should allow scientists to understand how the harsh environment of space has affected the surface of Ryugu."
JAXA has yet to announce when scientists will begin analyzing this asteroid dust, but considering that "asteroids are primordial rubble left over from when the solar system formed, scientists hope that studying these samples of Ryugu will help them understand the early days of the solar system."
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiXmh0dHBzOi8vbWUuaWduLmNvbS9lbi90ZWNoLzE4MDQwNS9uZXdzL3NjaWVudGlzdHMtZ2V0LWZpcnN0LWxvb2stYXQtYXN0ZXJvaWQtc2FtcGxlLWZyb20tc3BhY2XSAQA?oc=5
2020-12-30 07:37:23Z
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