The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa returned from its seven-year trek to the asteroid Itokawa on Sunday, and a capsule that hopefully contains pieces of the asteroid was recovered in the Australian outback Monday morning. The mission was the first round trip to a planetary body beyond the moon, and -- if the capsule isn't empty -- the fourth space-sample return mission ever.
The capsule detached from the spacecraft at 7:51 pm Japanese time on June 13. The rest of the spacecraft burnt up in a dramatic, meteor-like blaze at 10:51 p.m., but a heat shield protected the capsule as it reentered the atmosphere. The capsule landed in the Australian Woomera Prohibited Area, 300 miles northwest of Adelaide, and was located around 11:56 p.m. It will be flown to Tokyo tomorrow, where scientists will open the capsule.
Hayabusa launched in 2003 with the goal of landing on Itokawa, a potato-shaped, 1,640-foot long asteroid several million miles from Earth, and coming back with a cartridge full of asteroid dust. Studying what the dust is made of could provide clues about the origins of rocky planets like Earth and Mars and the composition of the solar wind. The mission could also pave the way for future sample return missions and for landing humans on an asteroid.
The spacecraft landed on Itokawa twice in November 2005, but scientists were uncertain whether the metal bullet that was supposed to collect samples actually fired. Haybusa (Japanese for peregrine falcon) was supposed to return to Earth in 2007, but a series of setbacks, including broken control wheels, deterioration of its ion engine and battery malfunctions caused it to miss the window to return to Earth orbit until this year.
The capsule needs to be thoroughly cleaned and tested before its contents are known, which could take several months. If it has succeeded, Hayabusa will be the fourth sample return mission ever, after Apollo, the Stardust mission that collected samples from the comet Wild 2, and the Genesis mission that collected solar matter.
Image: NASA, JAXA
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