World News – AU – Asteroid samples ejected by Japanese spacecraft to land in SA outback

SA faces another exciting moment in space exploration history when asteroid samples are taken from Japan’s Hayabusa2 land near Woomera.

Videographic representation of the Hayabusa2 mission. Almost six years after its launch from the Japanese space center Tanegashima, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 is about to complete its mission. VIDEOGRAPHY

Hayabusa2 will have traveled 5. 25 billion kilometers when it drops asteroid samples over South Australia. Image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / German Aerospace Center Source: Delivered

Samples from a 4th. The 5 billion year old asteroid, collected by a Japanese spaceship in two extraordinary touchdown maneuvers, lands in the outback of South Australia.

The spacecraft Hayabusa2 took fragments of the asteroid Ryugu in February and July last year and will eject the fragments when it flies by early Sunday.

The capsule is expected to land AEDT near Woomera around 4am, with the Hayabusa2 5 traveling. 25 billion kilometers since the start.

Hayabusa2 took fragments from Ryugu last year. Image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / German Aerospace Center Source: Delivered

The fragments come from the earliest stages of the formation of the solar system and, after their analysis, should provide valuable insights into its origin and development.

It will be the first underground asteroid sample to return to Earth, and it could help scientists understand how oceans and life were formed here.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said scientists had many examples of meteorites – whose origins are believed to be identical to asteroids – that had fallen to Earth, but the material that remained after re-entering the atmosphere and theirs Structure had been lost along with volatile substances.

The samples were stowed in a landing capsule that will be ejected from AEDT near Woomera on Sunday around 4 a.m.. Image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / German Aerospace Center Source: Delivered

“On the other hand, samples from the asteroids are returned to Earth in the same state as in space, with the“ re-entry capsule ”protecting the sample through the atmosphere and landing. ”

Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, chairwoman of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), who will assist with sample analysis, said this was a historic moment for space exploration.

South Australia’s involvement in the Hayabusa2 mission is another chapter in the state’s rich space exploration. Image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / German Aerospace Center Source: Delivered

After releasing the landing capsule, the spaceship Hayabusa2 will continue its scientific journey and move towards another near-Earth asteroid, which it is expected to reach in 2031.

Woomera was declared a prohibited area in 1947 after the establishment of a long-range weapons test facility and became a global focus for space activities from 1957 when the first Skylark research rocket was launched by the British.

The Hayabusa2 spaceship performed extraordinary maneuvers to collect the samples and will move on to its next mission after being dropped. Image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / German Aerospace Center Source: Delivered

Woomera had the second highest number of rocket launches in the world after the NASA facilities in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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Hayabusa2, asteroid, Earth, JAXA, 162173 Ryugu, Hayabusa, Japan