Science is a slow process, and sometimes you have to seriously celebrate the intermediate steps while you wait for the final results.

Hayabusa2’s planning started in 2007. It finally launched in 2014 but didn’t get to Ryugu until mid-2018. It is now, well, 2020, and thirteen years after conception, we have the sample back on Earth, and it has finally made it to its lab at the JAXA Sagamihara Campus. All possible due diligence is being done to make sure no Earth contaminates — including air — mix with the sample, and so far things are going well. 

Initial analysis of the gases in the sample container seems to confirm the gases are from the samples outgassing. Put another way, material from Ryugu was captured in a container that was otherwise vacuum-filled. That sample contained some volatiles — gases and ices that were trapped in the rocks — and during the return to Earth, those volatiles exited the sample and hung out in the sample chambers where they can now be studied. This is the first time a sample of gas-state material has been returned from another world.

And while the sample canister itself hasn’t yet been opened, scientists are getting a sneak peek of what to expect thanks to dark grains captured on the entrance to the sample catcher. These grains are a nice sample by themselves and appear to be nearly black in color. This is a reminder that asteroids can be really dark, really hard to see, and something we need to literally watch out for. The asteroids hurled the first rocks at us, but now, Japan has more than once gone to battle, taken a sample, and returned it to Earth. I can’t wait to see what they find next.

More Information

JAXA press release (landing)

JAXA press release (gas sample)