JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, recently announced that they got hold of an asteroid sample in space and that they have retrieved it on planet Earth to study the asteroid sample.
In December of 2014, Japan did something very few space agencies in the world did.
The country launched an asteroid sample return mission back in December of 2014 and the mission is named Hayabusa2.
The mission involved a spacecraft that had been launched to bring back asteroid samples from Ryugu 162173, a near-Earth asteroid.
On December 5, 2020, JAXA announced that the asteroid sample has returned to our planet.
The images were shared on Twitter and they are magnificent.
The specimen that was retrieved is around 1 gram and it is the first-ever subsurface asteroid sample that was brought back to Earth in our human history.
The spacecraft traveled over 5 billion miles throughout the entire mission.
JAXA made an announcement about the capsule.
The announcement said:
We take this opportunity to show our deepest gratitude to the governments of Australia and Japan, NASA, and relevant parties for their cooperation in the recovery of the ‘Hayabusa2’ re-entry capsule. Our appreciation extends to the people of Japan and the world for their generous support and encouragement.
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