Dec 9 2020
Two members from Curtin University’s Desert Fireball Network (DFN) team have been stationed in the South Australian outback, eagerly awaiting a capsule from outer space landing on Earth carrying secrets from Ryugu, a small asteroid located deep in the solar system.
The DFN team members stationed in the South Australian outback
Working under a Department of Defence agreement, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spacecraft Hayabusa2’s capsule, filled with dust and rock samples collected from the asteroid, landed in the Woomera Prohibited Area, South Australia in the early hours of 6 December.
Using specialised camera equipment usually reserved for tracking meteorites, the team observed the capsule’s trajectory through Earth’s atmosphere.
Curtin University researchers from the Space Science and Technology Centre will now have the opportunity to analyse some of the collected pristine solar system material in the John de Laeter Centre, located at Curtin’s Perth campus.
Dr Eleanor Sansom, Planetary Scientist and Project Manager of the DFN, along with colleagues from Kochi University of Technology and their partners at Nihon University and Ibaraki University, deployed a large array of more than 50 instruments to capture the re-entry phenomenon.
“Although our Japanese colleagues were unable to be there with us in person due to Covid19 restrictions, we were deeply honoured to have been entrusted with the responsibility of helping them achieve their science goals,” Dr Sansom said.
“The DFN currently has cameras stationed all the way across Australia taking pictures of bright shooting stars, or fireballs, which help us to predict where meteorites have landed on Earth, and then we go out and try to find them,” Dr Sansom said.
“On this occasion, we were not watching a meteorite fall to Earth, but instead a capsule being dropped from a spacecraft, as it passed by Earth and continued on its scheduled mission.
“My colleague Dr Hadrien Devillepoix and I were stationed in the South Australian outback, eagerly awaiting this special delivery from space. This is only the second time anyone has ever brought back such a special delivery of pristine, untouched material, directly from an asteroid- an exciting and rare event indeed.
“Ryugu is extra special as it is thought to be the type of asteroid that carbonaceous meteorites come from. If Hayabusa2 samples match these carbonaceous meteorites, they could contain amino acids – the building blocks of life.”
More information about the DFN’s Hayabusa2 observation campaign can be found here, and information relating to the capsule landing, including an app, can be found here.