Asteroid Samples Collected By Hayabusa2 Are Now On Earth

Six years and three days after launch, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2 has completed its primary mission to study Asteroid Ryugu in detail, deploy four small rovers on its surface, and collect samples, including the first-ever subsurface sample from an asteroid. Now those samples are safely back on Earth. This important payload landed in the Woomera desert in Australia between 5:47 and 5:57 pm UTC (12:47=57 EST). It is the same location where its predecessor Hayabusa...