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Agence France-Presse

A Japanese probe sent to examine an asteroid 300 million kilometres from the Earth for clues about the origin of life and the solar system landed successfully on Friday, scientists said.
Data from the probe, Hayabusa2, showed changes in speed and direction, indicating it had touched down on the asteroid and was blasting back to its orbiting position, according to officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
A live webcast of the control room showed dozens of JAXA staff members nervously monitoring data ahead of the touchdown before exploding into applause after receiving a signal from the probe, Hayabusa2, that it had landed.
“We confirmed the touchdown,” JAXA spokeswoman Chisato Ikuta said.
The probe was due to fire a bullet at the Ryugu asteroid, to stir up surface matter, which the probe will then collect for analysis back on Earth.
The asteroid is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water from some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was born.

Hayabusa2 will eventually fire an “impactor” to blast out material from underneath Ryugu’s surface, allowing the collection of “fresh” materials unexposed to millennia of wind and radiation.
Scientists hope those samples may provide answers to some fundamental questions about life and the universe, including whether elements from space helped give rise to life on Earth.
After the landing, the probe was to return to its orbit above Ryugu, with further touchdowns planned for later in the year.
Final countdown to world’s first privately funded moon mission
Communication with Hayabusa2 is cut off at times because its antennas are not always pointed towards Earth and it could take several more days to confirm the bullet was actually fired to allow the collection of samples.
The mission has not been completely plain sailing and the probe’s landing was originally scheduled for last year. But it was pushed back after surveys found the asteroid’s surface was more rugged than initially thought, forcing JAXA to take more time to find a suitable landing site.
The Hayabusa2 mission, with a price tag of around 30 billion yen (US$270 million), was launched in December 2014 and is scheduled to return to Earth with its samples in 2020.

Photos of Ryugu – which means “Dragon Palace” in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale – show an asteroid shaped a bit like a spinning top with a rough surface.
Hayabusa2 observes the surface of the asteroid with its camera and sensing equipment but has also dispatched two tiny MINERVA-II rover robots as well as the French-German robot MASCOT to help surface observation.
Scientists are already receiving data from these probes deployed on the surface of the asteroid.
Universe map charts 300,000 more galaxies and could unlock secrets of black holes
The 10kg observation robot MASCOT is loaded with sensors, and can take images at multiple wavelengths, investigate minerals with a microscope, gauge surface temperatures and measure magnetic fields.
At about the size of a large fridge, Hayabusa2 is equipped with solar panels and is the successor to JAXA’s first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa – Japanese for falcon.
That probe returned from a smaller, potato-shaped, asteroid in 2010 with dust samples despite various setbacks during its epic seven-year Odyssey and was hailed as a scientific triumph.
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Space

Japanese space probe lands on asteroid to collect material from 4.6 billion years ago, possibly shedding light on origin of life

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) personnel reacting after they received confirmation that JAXA's Hayabusa2 space probe landed on the Ryugu asteroid. Photo: EPA

(FILES) This file photo taken on December 3, 2014 shows Japan's H-IIA rocket lifting off from the launch pad of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center at Tanegashima island in Kagaoshima prefecture, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, carrying the Hayabusa2 space probe. - The Hayabusa2 probe is expected to land on a distant asteroid on February 22, 2019, aiming to blast a "bullet" into the surface to collect clues about the origins of Earth and the solar system. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / - Japan OUT

Takashi Kubota (R), a professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, speaks at a press conference in Sagamihara, near Tokyo, on Feb. 22, 2019, after its Hayabusa2 space probe successfully landed on the Ryugu asteroid, 340 million kilometers from Earth, earlier in the day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Scientists hope samples may provide answers to some fundamental questions about the universe


Scientists hope samples may provide answers to some fundamental questions about the universe.


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