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The Japanese space agency said the data sent by the Hayabusa probe2 reported landing on a remote asteroid on Thursday and being acquitted of its historic mission of collecting underground samples that, scientists hope, will provide clues about the origin of the solar system. Hayabusa2 's was created a landing crater in April by dropping a copper impactor. Thursday's mission was to land inside this crater and collect underground samples that scientists say contain more valuable data, AP reported. Hayabusa2 is the first to have successfully collected soil samples underground from an asteroid. It precedes a similar mission planned by a NASA team on another asteroid.
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has announced confirmation of data indicating that Hayabusa2 would have landed and reportedly increased safely after the planned sampling. The landing was a few seconds. When touchdown, Hayabusa2 had to extend his pickup tube to the ground, shoot a bullet the size of a pinball to split the surface and suck the debris that had been washed away. Landing was a challenge for Hayabusa2 because of the risk of being hit by the dust and debris remaining in the crater, says Takashi Kubota, a member of the Hayabusa2 project at JAXA. "Everything went perfectly, even better than perfect, as if Hayabusa read our thoughts," he says. The asteroid, named Ryugu after a submarine dragon palace in a Japanese tale, lies about 180 million kilometers from the Earth. Hayabusa2 should leave the asteroid to return to Earth at the end of next year, with samples for a scientific study.
(Read more stories Hayabusa.)
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