A large shooting star-like fireball was observed over Australia, confirming the return of the capsule of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft.

The capsule is believed to contain asteroid sand and is planned to be recovered by a waiting team in the desert areas of southern Australia.

"Hayabusa2" separated the capsule from the main body for 5 days in order to return the capsule that seems to contain the sand of the explored asteroid "Ryugu" to the earth.

Then, before 2:30 am on the 6th, it was observed as a large shooting star-like fireball over Australia, confirming the return of the capsule.



The capsule will open a parachute at an altitude of around 10 km and land in the desert area of ​​southern Australia, where the team will collect it.

The recovered capsules will be transported to Japan by plane after gas analysis and opened at a dedicated facility.



In the future, the samples will be distributed to researchers to investigate the formation of the solar system, and water components and organic matter will also be analyzed.



This is the end of the exploration of the asteroid "Ryugu" that flew about 5 billion kilometers over 6 years, but the main body of "Hayabusa2" has a lot of fuel left, so it is heading for a new mission and another asteroid. It will arrive in 11 years later and will be explored.

Smooth operation toward landing JAXA announced

JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced that it received a radio wave called a beacon transmitted by the capsule at 2:32 am.



The capsule opens the parachute, indicating that it is working well towards landing.

The fireball captured by the camera

In the video taken by the JAXA camera in southern Australia, a shooting star-like fireball was confirmed at 2:29 am on the 6th.



The fireball was shining brightly and moving forward with a white tail.

Applause in the JAXA control room

Around 2:30 am, when it was time for the capsule separated from Hayabusa2 to enter the atmosphere, in the JAXA control room in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, the people working on it were shown on the monitor over Australia. I was watching as if I was eating.



Then, when a bright shooting star-like fireball was confirmed, they applauded each other and rejoiced at the return of the capsule.