- Japan’s Hayabusa sample container – asteroid specimens? Credit: JAXA
- Graphic of Hayabusa return capsule. Credit: JAXA
There’s heightened excitement at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It appears that Japan’s Hayabusa space probe may have indeed brought back to Earth tiny samples from asteroid Itokawa.
JAXA officials have reportedly found “minute particles” within Hayabusa’s sample container unit. What must be first determined, however, is whether or not these small bits are from the asteroid – or Earthly contaminants in the chamber.
Japan’s Hayabusa asteroid mission was launched in 2003, spending 7 years in space before returning to Earth last month. The sample container landed in Australia under parachute, recovered, then whisked to Japan for opening and analysis of any captured samples.
A research team is assembled at the Sagamihara Campus near Tokyo.
For weeks, great care has been taken in opening the Hayabusa return canister – and the prospect that the container may contain asteroid samples is extremely exciting news.
Special thanks to photo-journalist Toshiki Hasegawa.
By Leonard David