The capsule will be retrieved by helicopter to a Quick Look Facility for a safety inspection of any gases in the sample container. Then the sample will be sealed and airlifted to Japan.
Hayabusa2 Historic Mission
In Japan, scientists will have at least 100 milligrams of Ryugu samples collected from the surface of the asteroid. Ryugu was once known as 1999 JU3.
This is only the second time that a space mission has been able to return an asteroid sample. JAXA’s first Hayabusa mission returned only a few micrograms of asteroid Itokawa in 2010.
After it drops its payload in Australia Hayabusa2’s flight continues to asteroid (98943) 2001 CC21. It will arrive there in July 2026, then head out to asteroid 1998 KY26 where it will arrive in July 2031.
Last month, the US spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx collected alien samples from the surface of an asteroid named Bennu. These samples are expected to be returned to earth in 2023.
—————————————-
Have a story you want USA Herald to cover? Submit a tip here and if we think it’s newsworthy, we’ll follow up on it.
