For the first time in the world: Japan's Hayabusa 2 probe brings back asteroid gas
CTOnews.com October 21 news, Japan's Falcon 2 asteroid probe launched on December 3, 2014, met with the asteroid "Dragon Palace" in mid-2018 to detect and sample it, separated from the recovery capsule at the end of 2020, and then the recovery capsule returned to Earth. Falcon 2 probe continued its space journey. Asteroid 1998KY26, arriving around 2031, will be detected without sampling.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tokyo University, Kyushu University and other teams have announced that gas has been detected in sand samples from the asteroid "Dragon Palace" brought back by the probe "Falcon 2," Kyodo News reported Oct.21. It is reported that this is the world's first time to bring asteroid gas directly back to Earth.
It is reported that these include rare gases such as helium and neon. The helium and neon detected are different from the characteristics of the earth's gases and may be carried to the asteroid surface by the solar wind. CTOnews.com understands that the researchers also detected nitrogen and argon, but because of their similarity to Earth's gas characteristics, they are likely to have mixed into Earth's atmosphere after returning. It is said that the amount mixed in is within the expected range and will not affect the analysis.
JAXA and others detected five rare gases, such as argon, krypton and xenon, from the samples. These rare gases have similar characteristics to those detected in special meteorites found on Earth, and are likely to retain the characteristics of the solar system when it was formed. The researchers speculate that the rare gases detected also include gases produced by cosmic rays reacting with rocks, as well as gases from outside the solar system.
It is worth mentioning that on June 6,2022, according to Japan Economic News,"Falcon 2" found "source of life"_amino acid in sand samples brought back to Earth from asteroid "Dragon Palace." This is the first time amino acids have been confirmed outside Earth. On September 23, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced that rock samples collected by the Hayabusa 2 probe contained liquid water.
