Arriving December this year, Japan's asteroid probe Hayabusa2 to open knowledge trove

Having collected samples from asteroid Ryugu last year, Japan’s Hayabusa2 craft is just months away from returning m to Earth.  samples collected would allow scientists to understand how celestial bodies came to be as y contain material that likely dates back to dawn of solar system, 4.6 billion years ago. Scientists will search its samples for signs of hydrated minerals, organic material, and or building blocks of biology.

On July 14, Japanese Aero Exploration ncy (JAXA) and Australian ncy anunced landing date for samples on December 6, 2020.  sample capsule is planned to land in Woomera, South Australia, and ncy and JAXA are working towards planned safe re-entry and recovery of capsule containing asteroid samples.

Hayabusa2 was launched in 2014 and arrived at Ryugu in June 2018. In April 2019, craft fired an impactor into Ryugu from a distance, forming a small crater. n it swooped down three months later to grab material ejected by impact. Last vember, Hayabusa2 finally left its orbit around asteroid and began its one-year journey home.

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According to a report, when Hayabusa2 flies by Earth in December, it will drop off sample capsule, which must endure a fiery re-entry in our atmosphere from harsh vacuum of before parachuting safely to ground. craft will head back into , on an extended mission to one of two possible additional asteroids.

On ground, a team of about 10 JAXA scientists will await capsule’s arrival and will rely on its radio beacon, as well as drone-based reconnaissance, to locate its precise touchdown site. scientists’ aim will be to find capsule within 100 hours of landing.

Following this early analysis, roughly a day after capsule’s return to Earth, JAXA will fly samples to Japan. re, in a clean room, capsule containers will be opened for first time. A portion of samples will immediately be set aside and stored for future generations to study, ideally with more advanced equipment than is available today. remainder will be transferred to a chamber filled with pure, inert nitrogen gas. 

Hayabusa2’s predecessor, Hayabusa, also used Woomera landing site when it returned a capsule containing about a millionth of a gram of dust from asteroid Itokawa in 2010. That mission had been planned to retrieve far more, but it was hindered by multiple mishaps in deep . Hayabusa2’s haul from Itokawa should be larger—up to a gram of material.

(Im credit: hayabusa2.jaxa.jp)

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