Japanese officials say they are satisfied with the quality asteroid material collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth.
Last week, officials from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, described the samples, which were collected from the asteroid Ryugu in July 2019. Ryugu is more than 300 million kilometers from Earth.
The Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 removed the material after dropping a hole in the asteroid.
The space agency said July 2019 mission aimed to collect samples from under the Ryugu surface. During a previous operation in February 2019, Hayabusa2 collected material from another part of the asteroid.
The second collection effort resulted in samples up to 1 centimeter long, JAXA officials said. The black material looked similar coal and it was very difficult, they added. It did not separate when it was picked up or poured into another container.
Earlier this month, space officials described the samples Hayabusa2 removed in the first mission as smaller, sandy pieces. They were collected from the surface of Ryugu.
Hayabusa2 was launched in December 2014 and arrived near Ryugu in June 2018. The Japanese space mission aims to use the evidence to learn more about how our solar system was formed.
JAXA’s Tomohiro Usui is a space scientist. He told the Associated Press that to obtain the second set of samples in July, Hayabusa2 used a impactor to explode beneath the asteroid’s surface. The purpose was to collect materials unaffected by space radiation or other environmental conditions.
Usui mentioned that the differences in size suggest a different hardness of bedrock of the asteroid. “One possibility is that the place of the second touchdown was a hard stone and larger particles broke and entered compartment“Usui said.
JAXA is continuing its examinations on asteroid samples before further studies next year. Following studies in Japan, some of the evidence will be shared with the US space agency NASA and other international space agencies for further research.
Asteroids orbit the sun, but are much smaller than planets. These are among the oldest objects in the solar system and can help scientists better understand how the Earth developed over time. Asteroid evidence may give researchers a rare chance to study these mysterious rocky objects.
Hayabusa2 is now on another mission in a smaller asteroid called 1998KY26. JAXA expects the aircraft to take 11 years to reach that asteroid. Hayabusa’s new mission2 aims to study possible ways to prevent large size meteorites from hitting the Earth.
The only other nation that has successfully collected a sample of asteroids is the United States. NASA announced last month that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft has completed sampling on the Bennu asteroid. NASA said it was pleased that the spacecraft collected more samples than expected.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported the story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in this story
asteroid – n. any of the thousands of small planets orbiting the sun
mission – n. a flight by an aircraft or spacecraft to perform a specific task
coal – n. a hard black material, which is made by burning wood with a small amount of air
impactor – n. an object (such as a meteorite) colliding with another body
bedrock – n. solid rock that lies below the surface of the soil
compartment – n. an enclosed space or area that is usually part of something larger and is often used to hold a certain thing
meteorite – n. a piece of stone or metal that has fallen to earth from outer space: a meteor that reaches the Earth’s surface without burning completely