Japanese officials say they are satisfied with the quality of asteroid material collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth.
Last week, officials from Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, described samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu in July 2019. Ryugu is more than 300 million kilometers from Earth.
The unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft from Japan removed the material after launching a hole in the asteroid.
The space agency said in July 2019 mission intended to collect samples from under the surface of Ryugu. During an operation prior to February 2019, Hayabusa2 collected material from a different part of the asteroid.
The second collection effort resulted in samples of up to 1 centimeter, JAXA officials said. The black material looked similar charcoal and it was very hard, they added. It did not break when picked up or dumped in another container.
Earlier this month, space officials described the samples Hayabusa2 withdrew on its first mission as smaller pieces of sand. They were collected from the surface of Ryugu.
Hayabusa2 was launched in December 2014 and arrived near Ryugu in June 2018. The Japanese space mission aims to use the samples to learn more about how our solar system formed.
Tomohiro Usui of JAXA is a space materials scientist. He told The Associated Press that to obtain the second set of samples in July, Hayabusa2 used one impactor to explode below the surface of the asteroid. The goal was to collect material unaffected by space radiation or other environmental conditions.
Usui noted that size differences suggest a different hardness than big rock of the asteroid. “One possibility is that the site of the second touchdown was a hard rock and larger particles would break and enter the compartment“Usui said.
JAXA continues its examinations of asteroid samples before more comprehensive studies next year. Following studies in Japan, some of the samples will be shared with the US space agency NASA and other international space agencies for further research.
Asteroids orbit the sun, but are much smaller than planets. They are among the oldest objects in the solar system and can help scientists better understand how the Earth developed over time. Asteroid samples can give researchers a rare opportunity to study these mysterious rocky objects.
Hayabusa2 is now on another mission to a smaller asteroid, named 1998KY26. JAXA expects the plane to take 11 years to reach this asteroid. Hayabusa2’s new mission aims to study possible ways to prevent the elderly meteorites to hit the Earth.
The only other nation that successfully collected an asteroid sample is the United States. NASA announced last month that its Osiris-Rex spacecraft had completed sampling operation on the asteroid Bennu. NASA said it was pleased that the spacecraft was collecting more samples than expected.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in this story
asteroid – n. any of the thousands of small planets orbiting the sun
mission – n. a flight of an aircraft or spacecraft to perform a specific task
charcoal – n. a hard black material that is made by burning wood with a small amount of air
impactor – n. an object (like a meteorite) that collides with another body
big rock – n. the solid rock that lies beneath the surface of the earth
compartment – n. an enclosed space or area that is usually part of something larger and is often used to contain something specific
meteorite – n. a piece of rock or metal that has fallen to earth from outer space: a meteor that reaches the Earth’s surface without burning completely