. Weltnachrichten – AU – After six years and 6 billion. km the Japanese Hayabusa2 is preparing to bring home a load of asteroid dust

Japanese crafts collected dust from the asteroid Ryugu, which scientists hope could shed light on the origins of life

The last time Hayabusa2 was seen with the naked eye, Barack Obama was President of the United States, and Brexit was a distant Europhobic fantasy.

Six years and three days into its groundbreaking mission, the Japanese spaceship will drop a capsule of pristine asteroid fragments on the Australian outback that scientists believe could shed light on how the solar system was formed and the origins of life.

When the probe hits the sky high above Woomera, South Australia, in the early hours of Sunday morning, it will have a round trip of about 6 billion. km (3) completed. 7 billion. Miles), which included two short stops on the surface of a moving asteroid.

The unmanned vehicle will take the capsule from a height of about 220. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) announced.

Sunday’s operation marks the culmination of a 30 billion mission. ¥ (215 million. £), which began when Hayabusa2, whose name means falcon in Japanese, left the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan in December 2014.

In June 2018, after a journey 3, the probe reached its stationary position above the asteroid – called Ryugu after an underwater dragon palace in a Japanese fairy tale. 2 billion. km in an elliptical orbit around the Sun for more than three years.

One of several critical phases of the mission came in February of last year when it briefly landed on Ryugu and fired a tiny tantalum pellet at the surface of the asteroid to raise dust to collect before blasting back into its holding position.

Five months later, it achieved a world first when it landed a second time to collect detached rock fragments and earth beneath the surface of the 4. 6 billion. Year old asteroid.

Jaxa believes that these subterranean samples contain carbon and organic matter that are protected from space radiation and other environmental factors and are in the same state as when the solar system was formed.

Makoto Yoshikawa, a mission manager on the Hayabusa2 project at Jaxa, said scientists are particularly interested in analyzing organic materials in the Ryugu samples.

« Organic materials are the origins of life on earth, but we still don’t know where they come from, » Yoshikawa said at a briefing. “We hope to find clues to the origin of life on earth by analyzing details of the organic materials brought back from Hayabusa2. ”

The capsule, which is protected by a heat shield, turns into a ball of fire when it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 200 km. A parachute opens about 10 km above the ground, and if everything goes according to plan, the capsule will send out signals indicating its position on the ground.

Jaxa experts who arrived in Woomera last month have set up satellite dishes in multiple locations to pick up the signals while the Australian Space Agency and Department of Defense will be on standby to assist with the search and search mission.

Without local help, finding the capsule, which is only 40 cm in diameter, would be « extremely difficult, » said Yoshikawa.

Hayabausa2’s work will not be finished at this point. Once the capsule is released, it will head for another distant asteroid called 1998KY26 in a mission expected to last a decade.

Asteroid, Hayabusa2, space probe, JAXA, Earth, Japan, 162173 Ryugu, Hayabusa, spaceship