Samples from space!
Scientists from both the Japanese Hayabusa-2 mission to the asteroid Ryugu and the Chinese Chang’e-5 mission to the Moon announced yesterday the total amount of material they successfully recovered.
- Hayabusa2 returned with 5.4 grams of asteroid soil, far more than target
- China’s Chang’e-5 retrieves 1,731 grams of moon samples
The numbers appear to diminish the Japanese success, but that is a mistake. Getting anything back from a rubble-pile asteroid that had never been touched before and is much farther away from Earth than the Moon was a very great achievement. The 5.4 grams is also more than fifty times the minimum amount they had hoped for.
This is also not to diminish the Chinese achievement, They not only returned almost four pounds, some of that material also came from a core sample. They thus got material both from the surface and the interior of the Moon, no small feat from an unmanned robot craft.
Scientists from both nations will now begin studying their samples. Both have said that some samples will be made available to scientists from other countries, though in the case of China it will be tricky for any American scientist to partner with China in this research, since it is by federal law illegal for them to do so.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Scientists from both the Japanese Hayabusa-2 mission to the asteroid Ryugu and the Chinese Chang’e-5 mission to the Moon announced yesterday the total amount of material they successfully recovered.
- Hayabusa2 returned with 5.4 grams of asteroid soil, far more than target
- China’s Chang’e-5 retrieves 1,731 grams of moon samples
The numbers appear to diminish the Japanese success, but that is a mistake. Getting anything back from a rubble-pile asteroid that had never been touched before and is much farther away from Earth than the Moon was a very great achievement. The 5.4 grams is also more than fifty times the minimum amount they had hoped for.
This is also not to diminish the Chinese achievement, They not only returned almost four pounds, some of that material also came from a core sample. They thus got material both from the surface and the interior of the Moon, no small feat from an unmanned robot craft.
Scientists from both nations will now begin studying their samples. Both have said that some samples will be made available to scientists from other countries, though in the case of China it will be tricky for any American scientist to partner with China in this research, since it is by federal law illegal for them to do so.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
While it may indeed be tricky for US scientists to partner with the Chinese in looking at these samples, all is not lost. At the rate SpaceX is going, we’ll have plenty of lunar material of our own to look at soon.
I hope none of the samples were from Andromeda… Ha
Wayne, do we have a fire?
Am I reading this right: Less than .2 ozs? (Point 2 Ounces)
They can call it a success, but I don’t. They did pick up a few specs, but all that money and all that time for .2 oz. (yes I know they did other things) I hope we did better with ours.
and really, who know how much the chinese really got.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
audiobook
https://youtu.be/-UKH9qdyo0A
8:13:42
I think both achievements are remarkable, with the Japanese effort perhaps more so. This is the very first material from an asteroid (or fragment), that didn’t already pass through the atmosphere. The mass of the Hayabus2 sample is a bit deceptive, as we don’t know the material density.
With any luck, China and Japan might swap samples as part of an outreach.
– Hayabusa2 returned with 5.4 grams of asteroid soil, far more than target
– China’s Chang’e-5 retrieves 1,731 grams of moon samples
I wonder if anyone at NASA has a feeling of horror in the pit of their stomach questioning what they’ve been doing with their billions of dollars over the last 50 years. Besides decades old space stations and Mars rovers. And Tang.
Will it motivate change, or will they just punch in on Monday morning business as usual….
James Street, NASA has work for the next 20 years, getting sls off the ground. That project is the epitome of what is wrong with US government today.
I hope their land and scoop project does not come back empey. If I remember correctly the lid would not close on the container and they could not test to see if anything was in there. Supposedly because they got too much. But I find it hard to believe that the engineers did not factor in filling too full. But we won’t know until 2023.
Nice “grab” all around. I am amazed. Seriously.
And what will it all enlighten us with ?
Velcro ?