Watch Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission deliver the first underground asteroid samples to Earth

A Japanese capsule returns to Earth on Saturday with the very first rock samples below the surface of an asteroid. When it collapses to Earth, the capsule will provide a breathtaking spectacle above the Australian outback, crossing the sky like a dazzling fireball.

Project manager Yuichi Tsuda called the mission “a rare event in human history.” This marks just the second time that pristine, undamaged material straight from an asteroid has been brought back to Earth.

JAXA, Japan’s national aerospace and space agency, was scheduled to broadcast the event live at noon (ET) on Twitter and YouTube. Watch it here:

Japanese Hayabusa2 probe, which is about the size of a refrigerator, launched in December 2014, enthralling scientists when it landed on the diamond-shaped asteroid Ryugu, which means “dragon’s palace” in Japanese, located at 185 million of kilometers.

On Saturday, he successfully released a capsule for Earth, according to the country’s space agency.

The 15-inch capsule separated from the spacecraft about 136,701 miles above Earth before its intended descent into the Australian outback near Woomera, South Australia. A parachute will open about six miles above the ground and signals will alert space agency officials of its location.

Scientists expect the capsule to bring home a small amount of asteroid material, collected last year, with the aim of learning more about the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. Scientists believe that the rocks that make up the asteroid are around four billion years old.

The samples could shed light on “how matter is scattered around the solar system, why it exists on the asteroid, and how it relates to Earth,” Tsuda told reporters, according to a press release on Friday.

The samples were collected during two separate landings on Ryugu last year. During the first one, the probe collected dust and blew up a hole in the asteroid’s surface to find additional material below. Several months later, the probe returned to the crater it had created to collect more samples.

“We may be able to obtain substances which will give us clues as to the birth of a planet and the origin of life … I am very interested to see these substances,” said mission leader Makoto Yoshikawa. to journalists.

But the rescue mission could prove to be a challenge.

According to the Associated Press, JAXA officials have installed satellite dishes, marine radars, drones and helicopters to help with the treasure hunt.

Once officials find and collect the capsule, the samples will be processed and airlifted to Japan, then distributed among researchers at JAXA, NASA and other international organizations.

Some samples will be set aside for future studies when the technology advances further.

JAXA plans to expand the Hayabusa2 mission for more than a decade, with its sights set on two new asteroids, 2001 CC21 and 1998 KY26.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission recently collected a sample of another asteroid close to Earth – Bennu, which is similar to Ryugu. The sample will return to Earth in 2023.