Japanese researchers have started to open the container with the asteroid samples from the space probe Hayabusa2. The first analyzes in Japan had also shown that the gas stored in it differs from the terrestrial air mixture, said Japan’s space agency JAXA. This confirms the first measurements that were taken shortly after landing in Australia.

A first photo also shows the material itself, that lies in the container. The transport of the samples “is a great success,” the researchers cheer. A substantial amount of soil and gas samples have been found. The aim was to collect at least 0.1 grams.

Rock samples arrived in Japan Hayabusa2 had several rock samples from hers in the past year Taken from asteroid Ryugu before heading back to Earth in November 2010. At the beginning of December it landed safely in the desert of the Woomera test site for aerospace in southern Australia and after an initial analysis, the sealed container was brought to Japan by plane. There it is now being examined and carefully opened in a laboratory of the Jaxa research center ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) in Sagamihara, near the capital Tokyo.

For Japan it is a further success in asteroid exploration, after the Hayabusa probe already 2010 samples from the surface of an asteroid for the first time brought to earth. Your successor has now brought back gaseous samples for the first time, explains JAXA. The researchers now want to continue slowly opening the container so that they can then analyze the samples in detail. Then it will also be found out how much material the probe brought with it in total. From the middle 2021 microscopic, mineralogical and geochemical investigations should begin. JAXA is making some of the samples available to NASA and researchers in other countries.

Hayabusa2: Images of the approach to Ryugu (38 Pictures) (Image: JAXA) (mho) 201902212202