Magnified view of microscopic particle, about 0.01 mm in size, from inside the sample return canister with quartz manipulator used by research team who hope it is first ever material returned from an asteroid. Note shadow of manipulating needle above. .Credit: JAXA

A little while ago we heard about the Hayabusa spacecraft making its way back to Earth after visiting the asteroid Iwotaka.

Part of the mission was to land on the asteroid and collect a sample from the asteroid and return it.  Sadly the sampling mechanism failed to work properly, not firing a projectile into the surface so the dust kicked up could be collected inside a canister.  Could the force of the landing craft kick up enough dust to be sampled?  The scientists and engineers at JAXA were hopeful.

Turns out the canister did indeed contain a few very small particles.  Now the question becomes: are they particles from the asteroid or contamination?  Time will tell.  If these are from Iwotaka they will be the first particles ever returned from an asteroid.  The samples are very small but apparently not so small they are useless and they will be extensively tested.

Hayabusa was the first spacecraft to land and take off from an asteroid.  Hayabusa suffered from some failures of its ion engines and really is a tribute to JAXA and their resolve to get the craft back, even if it did take three years longer.  JAXA is one of those space agencies that will emerge in the forefront of space sciences with what looks like more and more like the imminent demise of NASA.  Oh and don’t count China out, although they might not be as apt to share information believe you me they are up and coming.

It will be interesting to see how the private space industry in the US will stack up with other space launch entities, after all, commercial launches have been doing commercial space launches for quite a few years and are really the leaders in such endeavors at this point.  I kind of expect great things from the US industry, but that still remains to be seen.

Check out the JAXA site for more about what they are doing.