The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Hayabusa2 returns capsule, heads for another asteroid
JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft ejected a reentry capsule, thought to contain samples from inside the asteroid Ryugu, and a team collected it from the outback in Woomera, South Australia, early Sunday. The team, which includes members of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, located the capsule at 4:47 a.m. Sunday and recovered it about three hours later. The capsule separated from the main body of the spacecraft at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at a distance of 220,000 kilometers from Earth and approached the atmosphere at a speed of 43,200 kph. The recovery team observed the capsule moving as a bright fireball after its reentry into the atmosphere at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
The team then searched for the capsule based on clues such as radio signals emitted. Once the location was identified, it proceeded with the recovery operation after dawn.
The team will bring the capsule back to Japan to confirm whether samples have been successfully retrieved.
Hayabusa2, which left Earth in December 2014, arrived at Ryugu in June 2018. The spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid twice, in February and July 2019.
After its work probing the asteroid ended, Hayabusa2 left Ryugu in November last year, heading back toward Earth. Its six-year odyssey so far has covered more than 5.2 billion kilometers.
CAPSULE SEPARATION ‘ PERFECT’
The main body of Hayabusa2 fired its engines three times from 3:30 p.m. Saturday and successfully altered its orbit to head to its next destination, the asteroid 1998KY26, which orbits between Earth and Mars. It is expected to take 11 years for Hayabusa2 to arrive at the asteroid.
JAXA officials involved in the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample-return mission confirmed Saturday that the capsule had successfully separated from the spacecraft’s main body.
Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, the control room at the JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Sagamihara received data from the space probe about 220,000 kilometers away from the Earth — equivalent to about 60% of the distance between the
Earth and the Moon.
After the received data was confirmed, project manager Yuichi Tsuda, 45, declared the separation a success. “I conclude that the capsule has separated from the probe,” he said. “Congratulations!”
As Tsuda raised his arms in triumph, his peers applauded loudly.
“It was a perfect mission,” Prof. Takashi Kubota, 60, told the press. (Dec. 7)
CAPSULE ARRIVES AT JAXA FACILITY
SAGAMIHARA — A capsule that returned to Earth from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft was transported to a
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) facility in Sagamihara on Tuesday morning.
The capsule is believed to contain samples from the Ryugu asteroid.
“I’m really glad. I’m looking forward to opening the capsule,” said Yuichi Tsuda, the JAXA project manager responsible for Hayabusa2.
The capsule separated from Hayabusa2 in space and landed in a desert area in Woomera, Australia, on Sunday. It was recovered by a JAXA team dispatched to the site and transported aboard a chartered plane, which landed at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
A truck carrying the capsule arrived at JAXA’s Sagamihara Campus at around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Basic tests conducted in Australia found that the capsule contains gases, which might have been discharged from organic matter in the rocks or other substances.
JAXA plans to conduct further analysis to determine whether the gases originated on the asteroid.
JAXA will open the capsule to confirm if it contains samples from Ryugu by the end of this month. It will then spend about six months recording such data as the quantity of the samples. Full analyses are likely to begin around June next year.
Researchers believe that Ryugu contains organic matter and water, ingredients for the existence of life.
The analyses could provide clues on the evolution of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth.
GASES INDICATE SUCCESS
JAXA announced Monday that the gases detected in the capsule are believed to have been released from materials on Ryugu. The presence of gases “has further increased the likelihood that samples were successfully collected [from the asteroid],” a JAXA official said.
After the capsule was retrieved in the Woomera desert on Sunday, a team comprising JAXA officials and other scientists conducted a basic analysis of the capsule’s contents in Australia and succeeded in detecting the gases.
The gases are thought to have been produced when organic matter in rock samples reacted to high temperatures, among other conditions. The presence of the gases serves as an indicator to determine whether the capsule contains asteroid samples. (Dec. 9)
Friday to Dec. 14, and from Dec. 18 to 25.
The train makes a 29.6- kilometer round trip between Shin- Kanaya Station and Ieyama Station.
As a measure against the novel coronavirus, passengers’ temperature will be taken at stations.
A 28- year- old male company employee, who came from Nagoya with his family to ride the train on Saturday, said, “Our kids and I are so glad to see Thomas the Tank Engine.” (Dec. 9)