Japan awaits spacecraft return with asteroid soil samples
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's space agency said its final checks confirmed the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is on track to return to Earth a capsule containing samples from a distant asteroid that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet.
The spacecraft is making its final approach on its planned trajectory and is scheduled to separate the capsule Saturday afternoon from 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) away in a challenge requiring precision control. The capsule is programed to land in a remote, sparsely populated area of Woomera, Australia, on Sunday.
Hayabusa2 left the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) away, a year ago and was flying smoothly as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.
“We trained ourselves and now we are fully prepared. So I’m just praying that equipment that hasn’t been used yet will work well and that there will be good weather in Australia,” Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at JAXA, said Friday. “We are so excited.”
Hayabusa2's return with the world's first asteroid subsurface samples comes weeks after NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a successful touch-and-go grab of surface samples from asteroid Bennu. China, meanwhile, announced this week its lunar lander collected underground samples and sealed them within the spacecraft for return to Earth, as space developing nations compete in their sample-return missions.
Many Hayabusa2 fans gathered to observe the moment of the capsule separation at public viewing events across the country, including one at the Tokyo Dome stadium.
In the early hours of Sunday, the capsule, protected by a heat shield, will briefly turn into a fireball as it reenters the atmosphere 120 kilometers (75 miles) above Earth. At about 10 kilometers (6 miles) above ground, a parachute will...
