A team of scientists have performed an intensive investigation of Ryugu samples, discovering evidence that points to cometary organic matter being transported from space to the near-Earth region.
In 2014, the Japanese Space Agency JAXA launched the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to visit asteroid Ryugu. It arrived at the asteroid in June 2018 and studied it from orbit for over a year.
The container with material from a space rock called Ryugu parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia on Saturday evening. The samples were originally collected by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2.
Japanese scientists have praised "the world’s first rover to land on the surface of an asteroid." The Hayabusa2 is expected to land a German-made lander carrying a larger rover in October.
