Asteroid dust collected by Japanese probe arrives on Earth

Amazing work. Congratulations to the science team and engineers. I love how this workhorse space probe keeps going.

Mission accomplished. Congrats!

Bravo Zulu JAXA. Nice.

Customs and Immigration in OZ must have been a nightmare to go through for that little capsule...

"Anything to declare?"

Truly a great engineering accomplishment!! I remember in 2014 when Hayabusa was launched. My how the world has changed.

This great accomplishment should give everyone hope; times are hard now and will be for a while but if humans (with all of our faluts) truly work together and put their mind to something we can do extraordinarly things.

"Six years and it has finally come back to Earth," an official narrating a live broadcast of the arrival said, as images showed officials from Japan's space agency JAXA cheering and pumping their fists in excitement.

The capsule separated from Hayabusa-2 on Saturday, when the refrigerator-sized space probe that launched into space in 2014 was 220,000 kilometres away from Earth.

Gives you some hope for a better future, wish they could do it at a much grander scale next time. I would gladly pay all my taxes with a smile if a majority of it went to projects like this. Unfortunately, a majority of that money goes to corporate welfare,graft and kickbacks to a small oligopoly.

Excellent and truly impressive!

Good job.

I wonder though why could they not think of another name for the space probe. For bike enthusiasts Hayabusa will always be synonymous with the ultimate speed machine by Suzuki.

Billion of $'s to get a few kilo of asteroid rocks, what a waste of money to polish a few academic egos

Fantastic scientific effort, and a great example of international scientific cooperation between two clever countries (as an Australian, I'm biased of course!). As for it being a waste of money, Michael Hooper, it's often impossible to tell whether fundamental research like this will ultimately be of material benefit to mankind, but it often can, so why not do it.

The material collected from the asteroid is believed to be unchanged since the time the universe was formed.

I believe this should say solar system, not universe.

Billion of s to get a few kilo of asteroid rocks, what a waste of money to polish a few academic egos*

A) it cost millions, not billions

B) it got dust, not rocks

C) studying the composition of that dust allows scientists to understand how the earth and solar system were formed, and also the origin of life on our planet.

D) The technology developed for it will be key to mining asteroids in the future. Single asteroids can contain trillions of dollars worth of rare metals. While this no doubt will polish some egos, it also has major benefits for humanity.

@rainyday

the universe was formed.

I believe this should say solar system, not universe.

Spot on

Michael Hooper

Billion of

s to get a few kilo of asteroid rocks, what a waste of money to polish a few academic egos

Amazing technological advancements will save humanity from many challenges to come. And their scientific inspiration to young kids is priceless.

I agree with both arguments. An amazing technological achievement to go collect and return those samples to earth.

but in my opinion a useless target and result except for showcasing the remarkable mission itself.

I always have such high hopes of the discovery of something out of this world, I've been disappointed so far but still think these projects are a must. Well done!

i was joyous to watch J TV, to see the excitement of children. Such a great event will hopefully motivate them to study science.

Billion of

s to get a few kilo of asteroid rocks, what a waste of money to polish a few academic egos

It was described by a scientist as "a pinch of space dust" so that will not weigh kilos. Maybe a fraction of one gram.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/japan-capsule-hayabusa2-carrying-asteroid-samples-lands-in-south-australia/f4134cff-59eb-4e13-b09b-09b71981f39b

It is still a triumph of engineering and science for Japan. One more step to the stars.

Good job Jaxa.

Wow!

Brilliant job, JAXA! Dare I say NASA would even be jealous of this success. This analysis will give us proof of how and when the universe was formed.

Billion of

s to get a few kilo of asteroid rocks, what a waste of money to polish a few academic egos

I politely disagree. Its money well spent. In 100-200 years humans will need to find a more habitable planet out there in the universe to colonize. The earth will almost certainly not be livable in 200 years due to hostile climate. This JAXA study is the beginning of that process.

The earth will almost certainly not be livable in 200 years due to hostile climate.

Something we, with the help of science, could have prevented. But the will isn't there, sadly.

In 100-200 years humans will need to find a more habitable planet out there in the universe to colonize. The earth will almost certainly not be livable in 200 years due to hostile climate.

We had a perfectly habitable planet handed to us on a platter. If the Earth becomes unliveable, it will be due to the selfish and self-harming actions of its human inhabitants. We need to learn how to look after the planet we have before we think about stepping off it and spoiling the rest of the universe.

So much money for so little information anyway. Is it a waste of money? Yes and no. We all know that earth will vanish by itself in millions of years and there's nothin' we can bout that. I mean... it won't even reach there... coz humanity will destroy earth before that... The sun depend on the sun and the moon.

lol, i meant... the earth depend on the sun and moon.

Amazing achievement, but just 0.1 grams of material!!!???