The Japanese Hayabusa 2 lands successfully on a remote asteroid

Hiabusa 2 landed successfully on Friday for the Ryugo asteroid, located more than 300 million kilometers from the earth, to collect soil dust of the kind, which could help to further illuminate the formation of the solar system.

Mission dignitaries cheered with joy as the vehicle sent a positive signal that the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), which handles this delicate mission, has shown with great caution. They were waiting impatiently for the result.

The aircraft landed as planned for a few seconds on the surface of the asteroid and was projected in the form of a bullet to attract dust and take samples.

"We are very satisfied," said one of the mission leaders at a press conference. We were landing well and we were very happy. We felt that the weather was very long before landing. "He added that the vehicle" returned as expected to its orbital position around Ryugo and sent the first signals indicating that contact with the asteroid had already taken place ".

The images taken by the vehicle on the surface of the asteroid Ryugo show the effects of the short landing. The descent of the vehicle towards the Ryugu asteroid started at 4:15 GMT.

"The ball seemed to have succeeded, we can talk about success."

The vehicle should have been parked elsewhere in October, but it was necessary to find a less rugged place to avoid damaging the probe. In the end, a space of six meters was chosen.

"We can confirm that the vehicle has already landed on Riojo and we think we have done a great job," another agency official told reporters.

Officials said they needed several days to make sure the soil samples had been collected "but the chances are very high." The Hayabusa II adventure began on December 3, 2014 with a 3.2 billion km long journey to reach Ryugu, 340 million kilometers from Earth, inaccessible in a straight line. It took three years and ten months to reach its destination. In June 2018, it sits 20 kilometers from Ryugo, a former diamond-shaped asteroid dating back to the history of the solar system.

The vehicle was launched in October on the surface of the small Franco-German asteroid mascot, who worked more than 17 hours to analyze the composition of the soil of this primitive rock meteorite in the hope of better understanding the formation of the system solar.