Japan capsule with asteroid samples lands in Australia
TOKYO—Japan’ s space agency said signals showeda capsule released by the country’ s Hayabusa2 spacecraft has landed on a remote area insouthern Australia as planned, tobring home long-awaited asteroid samples that could explain the origin of life.
Hayabusa2 had successfully released the small capsule on Saturday and sent it toward Earth to deliver samples from a distant asteroid that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.
Early today the capsule briefly turned into a fireball as it reentered the atmosphere 120 kilometers ( 75 miles) above Earth. At about 10 kilometers (6 miles) aboveground, a parachutewas to open to slow its fall and beacon signals were to be transmitted to indicate its location.
“It was great. … It was a beautiful fireball, and I was so impressed,” said JAXA’s Hayabusa2 project manager Yui ch iT sud a as he celebrated the successful capsule return
and safe landing fromacommand center in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. “I’ve waited for this day for six years.”
Beacon signals have been detected, suggesting a parachute has also successfully opened and the capsule landed safely in a remote, sparsely populated area of Woomera, Australia, saidJAXA official Akitaka Kishi. He said JAXA staff were to fly a helicopter for aerial search of its location.
The fireball could be seen even from the International
Space Station. A Japanese astronaut Soic hi Noguc hi, who isnowonasix-monthmission there, tweeted: “Just spotted #hay a bus a 2 from# I SS! Unfortunately not bright enough for handheld camera, but enjoyed watching capsule!”
A retrieval of the panshaped capsule, about 40 centimeters (15 inches) india meter, will start after the sunrise, he said.
Hayabusa2 left the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) away, a year ago. After it released the capsule, it moved away from Earth to capture images of the capsule descending toward the planet as it set off on a new expedition to another distant asteroid.