Japan’s Hayabusa2 returns rare sample to Earth

The asteroid spins around like a top, rotating every 7.6 hours.

Japan has once again retrieved samples from a distant asteroid, which scientists will scrutinize for clues about the ancient delivery of water and organic molecules to Earth. The return capsule of the Hayabusa2 mission—about the size and shape of a wok—parachuted to a landing in the red desert sand of Woomera, Australia, in the early morning of 6 December, after a nearly 5.3-billion-kilometer trip to the asteroid Ryugu. A helicopter team homed in on a radio beacon and found the capsule intact.

Asteroid Ryugu

Asteroid 162173 Ryugu is a diamond-shaped space rock. It was discovered in 1999 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project, a collaborative, US-based project to catalogue and track space rocks.

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JAXA estimates the asteroid to be about 2,952 feet (900 meters) in diameter. Ryugu is orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars and occasionally crosses Earth’s orbit, which means the space rock is classified as “potentially hazardous,” though the body poses no imminent danger to our world. The asteroid spins around like a top, rotating every 7.6 hours.

Sample examination

The samples were collected by Hayabusa2, an asteroid explore, which launched in 2014, from the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometres from Earth.

The probe collected both surface dust and pristine material from below the surface that was stirred up by firing an “impactor” into the asteroid. The material is believed to be unchanged since the time the universe was formed.

Scientists hope the samples, which are expected to amount to no more than 0.1 grams of material, could help shed light on the origin of life and the formation of the universe.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed the samples had been recovered, with help from beacons emitted by the capsule as it plummeted to Earth after separating from Hayabusa2.

The capsule will now be in the hands of scientists performing initial analysis including checking for any gas emissions. It will then be sent to Japan.

More tasks for Hayabusa2

Hayabusa2 will now begin an extended mission targeting two new asteroids. It will complete a series of orbits around the sun for around six years before approaching the first of the asteroids, named 2001 CC21, in July 2026.

Scientists hope it will be able to photograph CC21 and that the fly-by will help develop knowledge about how to protect Earth against asteroid impact.

Hayabusa2 will then head towards its main target, 1998 KY26, a ball-shaped asteroid with a diameter of just 30 metres. When the probe arrives at the asteroid in July 2031, it will be approximately 300 million kilometres from Earth.

It will observe and photograph the asteroid, no easy task given that it is spinning rapidly, rotating on its axis about every 10 minutes. But Hayabusa2 is unlikely to land and collect samples, as it probably would not have enough fuel to return them to Earth.

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