Japanese probe 'Hayabusa2' capsule lands on Earth... Expectation for asteroid material
Carrying 0.1g of Asteroid Interior Material... Great Interest in the Presence of Organic Matter
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Kyodo News reported on the 6th that the capsule separated from Japan's asteroid explorer 'Hayabusa2' has landed on Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that the Hayabusa2 capsule, believed to contain internal materials from the asteroid Ryugu, landed in the southern Australian desert today and its location has been confirmed.
The capsule, which separated from the spacecraft in space about 220,000 km from Earth the previous afternoon, entered the atmosphere as a "fireball" at a speed of 12 km/s around 2:30 a.m. today and landed in the southern Australian desert.
JAXA plans to conduct a search and recovery based on signals from the location transmitter installed on the capsule after sunrise.
JAXA intends to transport the capsule immediately to a nearby facility upon recovery to verify whether the asteroid internal material samples are properly contained. The capsule, measuring 40 cm in diameter, can hold about 0.1 g of asteroid material.
The academic community expects that since this material has not undergone metamorphosis compared to 4.6 billion years ago, it can be used for research on the origin of life and the evolution process of the solar system.
While larger celestial bodies may have their internal material composition altered by heat and pressure, asteroids have a lower likelihood of such changes.
In particular, there is great interest in whether the samples contain organic materials that can trace the origin of life on Earth.
JAXA has agreed to share half of the asteroid material with other space exploration agencies such as the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) if the asteroid material is successfully secured.
Kyodo News reported that if the asteroid samples are confirmed, it will be the first time in the world that internal materials from an asteroid have been obtained.
Japan's second asteroid explorer, Hayabusa2, was launched on December 3, 2014, aboard the H2A rocket (No. 26), jointly developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
In July last year, it approached the asteroid Ryugu, about 340 million km from Earth, successfully created a crater with a metal bullet, and collected subsurface internal materials. It departed Ryugu in November of the same year and headed back to Earth.
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Hayabusa2 traveled 5 billion km over six years. After separating the capsule, Hayabusa2 plans to fly an additional 10 billion km over the next 11 years and attempt to land on another asteroid.
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