Japan space agency finds ample soil, gas from asteroid

Officials from Japan's ncy said Tuesday y have found more than anticipated amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule country's Hayabusa2 craft brought back from a distant asteroid this month, a mission y praised as a milestone for planetary research.

Japan Aero Exploration ncy said its staff initially spotted some black particles sitting on bottom of capsule's sample-catcher when y pulled out container on Monday. By Tuesday, scientists found more of soil and gas samples in a compartment that stored those from first of Hayabusa's two touchdowns on asteroid last year.

“We have confirmed a good amount of sand apparently collected from asteroid Ryugu, along with gases,” JAXA Hayabusa2 project manr Yuichi Tsuda said in a video mess during an online news conference. “ samples from outside of our planet, which we have long dreamed of, are w in our hands.”

Tsuda called successful return of asteroid soil and gas samples “a major scientific milestone."

pan-shaped capsule, 40 centimeters (15 inches) in diameter, was dropped by Hayabusa2 from to a predetermined spot in a sparsely populated Australian desert on Dec. 6 at end of its six-year round trip to Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) from Earth.

capsule arrived in Japan last Tuesday for research that will scientists hope will provide insight into origins of solar system and life on Earth.

Hirotaka Sawa, a JAXA scientist, was first to look inside capsule's sample-catcher. Sawa said he was “almost speechless” with surprise and joy when he found that samples inside included were just expected dust size but also size of grain and pebbles.

Soil samples in photos shown in Tuesday’s presentation looked like dark coffee grounds or black sesame seeds.

Scientists are hoping samples from asteroid’s subsurface can provide information from billions of years ago that are unaffected by riation and or environmental factors. JAXA scientists say y are particularly interested in organic materials in samples to learn about how y were distributed in solar system and if y are related to life on Earth.

Sei-ichiro Watanabe, a Nagoya University earth and environment scientist working with JAXA, said having more sample material to work with than expected is great news as it will expand scope of studies.

samples were gared from two touchdowns that Hayabusa2 me last year on Ryugu. landings were more difficult than expected because of asteroid’s extremely rocky surface.

first landing collected samples from Ryugu’s surface and second from underground. Each was stored separately. JAXA said it will look into ar compartment, used for a second touchdown, next week, and will continue an initial examination ahe of later studies of material.

Following studies in Japan, some of samples will be shared with NASA and or international groups for ditional research beginning in 2022.

(Im credit: Representative/ Unsplash)