Japanese space officials eager to analyze asteroid samples

Japanese space officials said they are excited about the return of a capsule that landed safely in the Australian Outback on Dec. 6 while carrying soil samples from a distant asteroid, and that they are eager to begin analyzing the "treasure" inside.

The capsule's delivery by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft completes its six-year sample-return mission and opens the door for research into finding clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

"We were able to land the treasure box" onto the sparsely populated Australian desert of Woomera as planned, said Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, adding that the capsule was in perfect shape. "I really look forward to opening it and looking inside."

The capsule will be packed in a container as soon as its preliminary treatment at an Australian lab is finished and brought back to Japan this week, Satoru Nakazawa, a project sub-manager, said during an online news conference from Woomera.

Hayabusa2 left the asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth, a year ago. After it released the capsule on Saturday, it set off on a new expedition to another distant asteroid.

Tsuda said Hayabusa2's successful completion of its inter-planetary round trip is the world's first and that he hoped to use the expertise gained in future planetary exploration, possibly Japan's MMX mission to Mars' moons beginning in 2024.

Scientists say they believe the samples, especially ones taken from under the asteroid's surface, contain valuable data unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors. They are particularly interested in organic materials in the samples to find out how they are distributed in...