Japanese Scientists Discover Dust Inside Hayabusa Asteroid Capsule
Ken Kremer for NASA Watch: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced the exciting discovery of a few minute dust particles found inside the sample return canister from their Hayabusa Asteroid probe which landed on Asteroid Itokawa in 2005 and plunged safely back through the Earth’s atmosphere on 13 June 2010. Read my earlier report here.
Hayabusa project manager Junichiro Kawaguchi and other JAXA researchers presented photographic evidence of the finding at a press briefing on Monday, July 5. However, the Hayabusa team cannot yet say whether the clearly visible gray and white colored particles truly originate from Asteroid Itokawa or from Earth – possibly via contamination during pre-launch preparations or during the impact in the Australian outback.
Hayabusa was equipped with a sampling horn to collect materials from the surface of the asteroid upon landing, which was the primary objective of the mission. But the sampling mechanism failed to fire a projectile designed to impact the surface and kick up a significant amount of pristine asteroid dust. Scientists and engineers were nevertheless optimistic that the force of the spacecraft landing itself would be sufficient to throw some particles upwards and a few might be fortuitously captured inside the sampling tube for the journey back home.
Magnified view of microscopic particle, about 0.01 mm in size, from inside the sample return canister with quartz manipulator used by research team who hope it is first ever material returned from an asteroid. Note shadow of manipulating needle above. .Credit: JAXA
After the spectacular June 13 landing on Earth, the probes intact sample canister was retrieved and quickly transported to an advanced curation facility at the JAXA Sagamihara Campus near Tokyo to be inspected and disassembled. The curation operations are being carried out in cooperation with NASA. An X-ray analysis revealed that there were no dust particles present larger than 1 millimeter in size.
The Hayabusa team began opening the 16 inch wide capsule for detailed scrutiny starting on June 24 and measured a trace gas emanating from the canister. The photos showing the dust grains from the interior of the sample capsule were taken on June 28 & 29 and also revealed the capsule to be in excellent condition.
Months of careful scientific detective work with high precision analytical equipment will be required to determine if the tiny dust grains are indeed the hoped for material potentially gathered up by Hayabusa during a brief touchdown on Asteroid Itokawa in November 2005. Ground truth samples were taken at the Australian impact site. A comparative compositional analysis will aid in making a conclusion on the true origin of the particles and whether they are from Itokawa or Earth.
The precious grains of dust could be a potentially momentous discovery since they would represent the collection of the very first pristine material from an asteroid which has ever been returned from outer space to Earth by a spacecraft.
These pristine samples could offer clues to the origin and evolution of our Solar System and perhaps even the origin of life since asteroids have impacted the earth. Samples will be distributed worldwide to science teams for high powered examination with the most advanced spectrometers and microscopes known to man.
The epic seven year and nearly 4 Billion mile round trip journey of Hayabusa began with a blastoff from Japan on 9 May 2003. The probe spent three months exploring Itokawa starting in September 2005. In November 2005, Hayabusa briefly landed on the surface of Itokawa. Hayabusa is the first spacecraft to ever land on and take off from an asteroid and then return to earth. Hayabusa translates as peregrine falcon in Japanese.
The spacecraft defied long odds, several failures of the ion engines and other systems and an unexpected extra three years in space to make it back home successfully and safely.
Scientists opened the Hayabusa sample return canister and found multiple tiny particles of gray and white colored dust inside, possibly from Asteroid Itokawa. The canister is stored and handled in a sealed vacuum chamber in the “clean room”. Credit: JAXA
