The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa has brought on Earth samples of the asteroid Itokawa. The capsule, with two collection chambers, has been opened in a clear room in Tokyo, and technicians of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have counted some 1 500 particles in those chambers, mostly of extraterrestrial origin.

The spacecraft, launched in 2003, reached is objective in 2005, but hasn’t been able to come back to Earth (It crashed in Autralia) until past June, the 13th, due to a fuel lost. During its trip, many dysfunctions occured: the sample collection mechanism didn’t work, as well asthe communication with Earth (during 7 weeks), some of the solar panels, and some other devices. The JAXA finally opened the collection chambers, hoping that some particles would enter in during the landing.

This idea beared fruit : this mission is successful for the agency, being the first mission that brought on Earth samples of an extraterrestrial object other than the Moon.

Those particles may light us on the early solar system conditions.

Source : ScienceNOW