Japanese asteroid capsule retrieved from Outback

A TEAM of scientists flew to the Australian Outback yesterday to recover a Japanese space capsule they hope contains asteroid samples with clues to the evolution of the solar system.

The Hayabusa explorer returned to Earth overnight after a seven-year, six-billion-kilometre journey, burning apart on re-entry in a spectacular fireball after jettisoning the capsule. It was the first time a spacecraft successfully landed on an asteroid and returned to Earth.

Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which launched the explorer in 2003, said they were “delighted” to recover the capsule, particularly after a number of technical problems delayed Hayabusa’s arrival for three years.

“It was an extremely difficult technological challenge, and we did everything to overcome the troubles one by one,” he said. Yesterday, two helicopters took scientists to the capsule’s landing site in the Woomera Prohibited Area, a remote military zone 485km north-west of the south Australian state capital of Adelaide.

The capsule was airlifted to the town of Woomera, where it would be prepared over several days for air freighting to Japan, NASA scientist Scott Sandford said.

Sandford said he had not seen the capsule but that photographs indicated it made a soft landing.

The capsule will return to Japan before scientists discover whether it carries any asteroid dust in its sample canister.

“It’ll be some time before we know if we’ve got sample, and if so, how much – I don’t think we can assume anything,” Sandford said.

Sandford said it was a relief to watch the re-entry and see the capsule successfully detach and parachute to Earth: “It’s a great testament to the design and operation of the spacecraft.”

Hayabusa reached an asteroid called Itokawa in 2005. After taking photo images from all angles of the 1,640-ft-long asteroid, Hayabusa landed on it twice in late 2005.

The craft was designed to shoot a bullet into the surface of the asteroid that would crush and propel material through a long tube into a sample collection container. There is no certainty the bullet actually fired, scientists say, but they believe the impact of the tube’s landing would have forced some material into the collection chamber.

“We have perhaps a 50% chance” of retrieving samples, Sakamoto said.

The Japanese space agency said the aim of the $200 million (€163m) project was to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system.