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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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 ?