{"id":17882,"date":"2019-11-13T17:34:05","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T09:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/after-visiting-asteroid-japans-hayabusa-2-probe-heads-back-to-earth-with-samples\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T17:34:05","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T09:34:05","slug":"after-visiting-asteroid-japans-hayabusa-2-probe-heads-back-to-earth-with-samples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/after-visiting-asteroid-japans-hayabusa-2-probe-heads-back-to-earth-with-samples\/","title":{"rendered":"After visiting asteroid, Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 probe heads back to Earth with samples"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_532821\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-532821\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-532821\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191113-ryugu-630x630.jpg\" alt=\"Asteroid Ryugu\" width=\"630\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191113-ryugu-630x630.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191113-ryugu-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191113-ryugu-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191113-ryugu.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-532821\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An image from Hayabusa 2\u2019s camera shows the half-mile-wide, diamond-shaped asteroid known as Ryugu receding in the metaphorical rear-view mirror. (JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology and Collaborators)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft and its science team bid a bittersweet farewell to the asteroid Ryugu, 180 million miles from Earth, and began the months-long return trip to Earth with a precious set of samples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an emotional moment!\u201d the team tweeted on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s sad to say goodbye to Ryugu,\u201d project manager Yuichi Tsuda said at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency\u2019s command center. \u201cLiterally it has been at the center of our lives over the past one and a half years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The farewell isn\u2019t finished quite yet, however. Over the next few days, Hayabusa 2\u2019s camera will capture pictures of the half-mile-wide asteroid as it recedes into the background of space. Then the probe\u2019s field of view will turn back toward Earth for the return journey.<\/p>\n<p>Hayabusa 2 was launched back in 2014 and arrived at Ryugu in mid-2018. Since then, it\u2019s been taking close-up pictures, dropping mini-probes to Ryugu\u2019s rubble-strewn surface, and collecting samples during touch-and-go maneuvers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spacecraft carries potential answers to solar system's origins back to Earth\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JhxcHRZ8Vko?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The mission is meant to to shed light on the composition of carbonaceous asteroids like Ryugu, which are thought to contain the primordial stuff of the solar system.<\/p>\n<p>Spectroscopic readings have already determined that Ryugu\u2019s rocks contain traces of water-bearing minerals \u2014 a finding that could hint at the sources of our own planet\u2019s oceans. But the biggest revelations are expected to come from studies of the samples that Hayabusa 2 is due to send down to the Australian Outback in a capsule as the main spacecraft zooms past Earth in late 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The sample return operation follows up on the first Hayabusa mission, which dropped off tiny flecks of another asteroid called Itokawa in 2010 after a glitch-plagued journey. Scientists are hoping that Hayabusa 2\u2019s more ample samples will provide fresh insights into the development of life on Earth. To emphasize the point, they redesigned the mission\u2019s logo with an Earth-centric theme:<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1194447828514492416&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2019%2Fyearlong-visit-asteroid-japans-hayabusa-2-probe-heads-home-samples%2F&amp;sessionId=cfc1c4c2f671e0bd1ca2611a789fd7f7f04d5617&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1194447828514492416\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782799892636476937=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As we have now entered the Return Phase, the mission logo has been updated. The base green color is for plantlike on Earth. If the sample returned from Ryugu contains organics, we may understand how Earth gathered the raw materials for life. This logo reflects that expectation! pic.twitter.com\/MQ4bMT7qwU<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) November 13, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An image from Hayabusa 2\u2019s camera shows the half-mile-wide, diamond-shaped asteroid known as Ryugu receding in the metaphorical rear-view mirror. (JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology and Collaborators) Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft and its science team bid a bittersweet farewell to the asteroid Ryugu, 180 million miles from Earth, and began the months-long return trip to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4365,1519,1965,377,2168],"class_list":["post-17882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-asteroid","tag-asteroids","tag-hayabusa-2","tag-japan","tag-ryugu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}