Earlier tonight, Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft paid a call on Earth to drop off its box of rocks...

[Princess Turandot]

... before zipping away to its next mission. The box of rocks - okay, it's called the capsule - is heading for Woomera, South Australia. It will be tracked by the satellite dishes of the Canberra branch of the Deep Space Network. It's scheduled to arrive between 12 - 1PM Eastern Time.

The rock sample was taken from 2 locations on Ryugu, a near-earth object /asteroid.



(Tweet from 2 weeks ago)

Link to tweet

JAXA is providing live English translated coverage here, with various science/space content since the landing is not for some hours.

[electric_blue68]

1. Cool! Thx. Interestingly shaped asteroid, too.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Wowie. Thank you. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Asteroid capsule located in Australian desert

Link to tweet

Screaming towards Earth at 11km/s, it deployed parachutes to slow its descent. The capsule then began transmitting a beacon with information about its position.

The spacecraft touched down on the vast Woomera range, operated by the Royal Australian Air Force.

At around 18:07 GMT, the recovering team identified where the capsule had landed. A helicopter, equipped with an antenna to pick up the beacon, took to the air shortly afterwards to hunt for the container.

Link to tweet

The capsule is now being taken to a "quick-look facility" for inspection before being airlifted to Japan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55201662

[nitpicker]

4. Hayabusa-2: Capsule with asteroid samples in 'perfect' shape

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55201662

Hayabusa-2: Capsule with asteroid samples in 'perfect' shape
By Paul Rincon

Published2 hours ago

A capsule containing the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid is in "perfect" shape, according to scientists.

The container with material from a space rock called Ryugu parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia on Saturday evening (GMT).

A recovery team in Australia found the spacecraft lying on the sandy ground, with its parachute draped over a tree.
(snip)