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It’s been a long time since we talked about the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2. About a year ago, Hayabusa2 landed on the Ryugu asteroid about 180 million miles from Earth. The spacecraft is now very close to returning home with samples for further analysis.
Hayabusa2 is expected to return to Earth on December 6, landing in South Australia. The samples mark the first to be returned from an asteroid, and scientists are excited to begin studying the material. The researchers believe that samples inside the spacecraft, particularly those taken from beneath the asteroid’s surface, will contain valuable data unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors.
One thing researchers will specifically look for when analyzing samples is organic materials. Organic materials were the regions of life on Earth, but scientists still don’t know where those materials originally came from. One theory is that the organic materials came from asteroids and comets that impacted the Earth over eons.
The last part of the Hayabusa2 mission, the actual return of the champions to Earth, requires precise control. The spacecraft will drop the capsule containing the samples from a distance of 136,700 miles from the planet’s surface. A heat shield protects the capsule, which will turn into a fireball when it enters the atmosphere about 125 miles above the ground.
When the capsule reaches an altitude of approximately six miles above the ground, a parachute will open in preparation for landing. A beacon inside will activate to transmit the position of the capsule. Several satellite dishes are installed in Australia around the target area to retrieve those signals. Radars, drones and helicopters are ready to assist in search and recovery. The capsule itself is very small with a diameter of only about 15 inches and would be hard to find without the headlights.
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