Yesterday evening, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 dropped soil samples from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth.
A container with soil samples was found near Woomera in South Australia. The spacecraft explored Ryugu for over a year before returning to Earth. Approaching our planet, “Hayabusa-2” released a capsule with samples and went to another asteroid.
Professor Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen’s University Belfast said the sample “Will reveal a lot of new not only about the history of the solar system, but also specifically about asteroids”…
“Getting samples from an asteroid-like Ryugu will be really exciting for our area. We think Ryugu is made of super-ancient rocks that will tell us how the solar system was formed. “Said Professor Sarah Russell, head of the Planetary Materials Group in London.