Asteroid samples leave Japan scientists ‘speechless’

Scientists in Japan were left ‘speechless’ when they saw how much asteroid dust was inside a space capsule.

Surface dust and other material collected from the asteroid Ryugu by the Hayabusa-2 space probe. Picture: AFP/JAXA

Scientists in Japan were left “speechless” when they saw how much asteroid dust was ­inside a capsule delivered by the Hayabusa-2 space probe in an unprecedented mission.

The Japanese probe collected surface dust and pristine ­material last year from the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometres away, during its six-year mission. This month it dropped off a capsule containing the samples, which created a fireball as it entered the Earth’s ­atmosphere, and landed in the South Australian desert before being transported to Japan.

Scientists at the Japanese space agency JAXA on Tuesday opened the inner container. “It was more than we expected,” said JAXA scientist Hirotaka Sawada. “It wasn’t fine particles like powder, but there were plenty of samples that measured several millimetres across.” It is hoped the dust will shed light on the formation of the universe.

AFP