Hayabusa2 Mission to Ryugu: How to Watch a Sample of Asteroids Return to Earth Live

The Japanese Space Agency JAXA is prepare for return of samples collected from Ryugu asteroid by the fearless, expertly designed Hayabusa2 probe. The spacecraft’s sample collection capsule is expected to land near Woomera in the Australian outback early Sunday morning local time. If you want to know how to watch the Sample Return Mission live, we’ve got you covered here.

Why such a fuss? Well, Hayabusa2 was launched in 2014 and meeting with the asteroid Ryugu in June 2018. After shoot the asteroid with a bullet in 2019, the spacecraft was able to take samples of underground material from the space rock – potentially the first time a spacecraft has done so – and store them in the capsule that will return to Earth over the weekend.

Until JAXA scientists and engineers return to Japan, we won’t know for sure what was captured, but it seems incredibly likely that we will be able to dig inside an asteroid for the first time. The material trapped inside could tell us about the early solar system and explain how water was transported around the planet during its formative years.

JAXA will provide live streaming of the event from Mission Control. The broadcast will start at 9 a.m. PT Saturday, December 5. The show is expected to last around 70 minutes, but can expand to 90. This is a few seconds after the fireball should appear and whether there will be vision from the ground when the spacecraft returns to Earth is currently uncertain.

“Given the nature of our operations with the minimum number of team members at Woomera, we can’t promise anything, but if it does, it will be incorporated into the live stream from Sagamihara, Japan,” Masaki said. Fujimoto, deputy director of the Space Institute. and astronautical science at JAXA.

This livestream is available below. There are currently more than 80 JAXA scientists and engineers stationed in Woomera and the nearby outback town Coober Pedy, ready for action as Hayabusa2 sends its asteroid sample to Earth.