The Japanese space agency on Monday confirmed the presence of black soil samples inside a capsule Brought from a distant asteroid Last week. The 15-inch-diameter pan-shaped capsule was launched from Hayabusa 2 spacecraft on December 6 into space in the sparsely populated Australian desert.
It arrived in Japan last Tuesday to provide insights into the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. The Japan Space Agency says its scientists have opened the capsule and discovered unspecified amounts of black sand particles.
According to the Associated Press, “This is clearly from Rio,” Jaxa said in a statement.
Jaxa said it would then proceed with an initial test before a full study of the samples.
Samples were collected last year from the touchdowns produced by Hayabusa 2 in Ryuku, 190 million miles from Earth. The landing was harder than expected as the asteroid has a very rocky surface.
The first landing samples were collected from the surface of Ryukyu and the second from underground. Each was stored separately.
Jaxa via Reuters
Scientists believe that asteroid surface samples could provide information billions of years ago that were not affected by space radiation and other environmental factors. Jaxa scientists say they are particularly interested in the organic matter in the samples to find out how they are distributed in the solar system and how they relate to life on Earth.
Following nearly a year of research in Japan, some models will be shared with NASA and other international teams starting in 2022 for further research.
Project Manager Yuichi Sooda called the trip “a rare event in human history.” This is the second time an untouched object has been brought directly to Earth from an asteroid.
Japan’s Hayabusa 2 study launched in December 2014, inspiring scientists when the diamond – shaped asteroid, meaning “Dragon Palace” in Japanese, landed 185 million miles away in Riku.
NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission recently collected a sample from another asteroid near Earth – Penn, which is similar to Ryuku. The model will return to Earth in 2023.
AP, ISAS / JAXA via file
Sophie Lewis contributed to this report.