TOKYO/SYDNEY: After a space trip of more than 5 billion kilometres, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 has released acapsule with samples from the asteroid Ryugu which is expected to pass through Earth’s atmosphere and land later on Saturday.
The capsule successfully detached from the probe at a distance of 220,000 kilometres above the Earth, the Japanese space agency Jaxa said. It contains collected material that is 4.6 billion years old, that is from the earliest times of the solar system, the mission manager, Makoto Yoshikawa of Jaxa, explained earlier in the week.
The capsule is expected to enter the Earth’s atmosphere in the evening and slow down as it gets very hot, and then deploy a parachute when it is about 10 kilometres above the ground at 1730 GMT. The capsule, which is only 40 centimetres in size, is supposed to float back to Earth and land between 1747 and 1757 GMT in the desert near Woomera in southern Australia, after which it is to be brought to Japan for analysis starting in June.
The probe had collected samples from the surface of Ryugu and, for the first time, from an area below the surface of an asteroid.
Researchers hope the analysis of the samples will help them trace the origins of the solar system. It could also contain organic material which could be “the source of life on Earth’’, Yoshikawa said.
It is possible that similar asteroids impacted with our planet once and in that way brought water to Earth.
The spectacular landing manoeuvre marks the end of the mission that began in December 2014 with the launch of the Hayabusa 2 from Japan. — dpa
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