On the 24th, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) released images of stones and sand that are believed to have been collected by the spacecraft “Hayabusa2” during the second landing on the asteroid Ryugu in July 2019. The sample at the time of the first landing in February last year announced on the 15th of this month was conspicuous with sand of several millimeters in size, while the second sample was characterized by coarse and large grains such as pebbles of nearly 1 cm. there were.
So far, 3 rooms for sample collection in 2 capsules of Hayabusa have been opened. In addition to the two used during the two landings, the image was not released, but we confirmed a large number of black particles of a size that can be seen with the naked eye.
JAXA explains that the newly confirmed sample may be an underground substance.