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China has just drilled into the moon and is flying soil samples to Earth.
But Japan is now taking a technically at least as demanding step.
In one of the most complex space missions in history, it was possible to take soil samples from an asteroid flying past the earth and, after traveling 5.25 billion kilometers, discard them in a small landing capsule above the earth.
In the Hayabusa 2 mission, in German peregrine falcon 2, a mini capsule with the samples has now landed in Australia - while the main satellite flies on to the next asteroid.
It should arrive there in 2031.
The Japanese space agency Jaxa hopes that 100 milligrams of the first encounter with the asteroid with a diameter of around 900 meters will have reached Earth.
First, Jaxa confirmed that the parachute of the approximately 40 centimeter large landing capsule was automatically deployed.
This has already been seen as a huge success.
Because it was deep night when we landed on site in Australia, finding the valuable cargo from the universe was initially delayed.
But then came the message from Jaxa: "We have found the capsule", including the parachute.
The samples should provide information about the formation of space and its planets.
The scientists also want to find out whether the building blocks of life may have come to today's earth through asteroids.
The team members of the Hayabusa 2 celebrate the success of their mission
Source: AFP / YUTAKA IIJIMA
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For Japan's space industry, the Hayabusa 2 mission is proof of its efficiency, its knowledge of robotics and space orbit physics, because the objects move at incredible speeds.
Almost exactly six years ago, the H-IIA rocket built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries took off for the mission, initially with a visit to the asteroid Ruyugu.
It was discovered around 20 years ago as an asteroid in a low-earth orbit.
Space is constantly searched to see whether the earth is endangered by large approaching objects.
The Japanese regularly send rockets with cargo capsules to the International Space Station, most recently at the end of November.
So you have a lot of experience in space travel.
Cost: 123 million euros
The Hayabusa 2 mission, which costs the equivalent of 123 million euros, is intended to provide further information about the formation of planets.
The project is extremely complex.
In 2010 there was the previous mission, Hayabusa 1, which brought 1500 grains from an asteroid to earth, which was already a first success for the Japanese.
But Hayabusa 2 is technically more demanding.
The Japanese are not alone with missions to asteroids: In 2016, the US space agency Nasa launched the Osiris-Rex mission to bring more than 60 grams from an asteroid to Earth in 2023.
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One of the special features of the Hayabusa 2 mission is that the samples were ejected in a landing capsule and just went down in Australia.
The actual satellite will remain in space and will head for an asteroid only 40 meters in size by 2031.
Germany and its research organization DLR (German Aerospace Center) are involved in the Hayabusa 2 mission.
In addition to France, DLR was involved in the development of a small landing vehicle (mascot) weighing just under ten kilos on the asteroid.
There were also separate little hopping rovers.
In February and July 2019, the probe then collected material from the asteroid Ryugu in two extraordinary maneuvers.
Scientists speak of four and a half billion year old fragments from the earliest times of the solar system.
The Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 flies towards Earth (graphic representation)
Source: dpa / -
From the middle of next year, DLR researchers will be able to collect material from the capsule that landed in Australia in Japan and transport it to Germany for their own investigations.
The DLR Institute for Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof is currently creating research opportunities in a new laboratory with a focus on special analyzes.
On the other hand, it is unclear whether the DLR researchers will receive moon rocks from the Chinese from their current moon mission.