A Japanese spacecraft is returning to Earth on Saturday with a very special delivery: a capsule containing the first-ever rock samples from beneath the surface of an asteroid. When it plummets to Earth, the capsule will provide a stunning show above the Australian outback, streaking across the sky as a dazzling fireball.
Project manager Yuichi Tsuda called the mission a "rare event in human history." It marks just the second time pristine, untouched material directly from an asteroid has been brought back to Earth.
JAXA, Japan's national aerospace and space agency, is streaming the event live at 11:30 a.m. ET on Twitter and YouTube. Watch it here:
Mission Control Live:Hayabusa2 Capsule Reentry Operation
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Japan's Hayabusa2 probe, which is roughly the size of a refrigerator, launched in December 2014, thrilling scientists when it landed on the diamond-shaped asteroid Ryugu, which means "dragon palace" in Japanese, located 185 million miles away.
After six years in space, it is now briefly returning to Earth before setting off on its next mission.
This computer graphics image released by JAXA shows the Hayabusa2 spacecraft above the asteroid Ryugu.
ISAS/JAXA via AP, File
Scientists expect the probe to bring home a small amount of asteroid material, collected last year, with the goal of learning more about the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. Scientists believe that the rocks that compose the asteroid are around four billion years old.
The samples could shed light on "how matter is scattered around the solar system, why it exists on the asteroid and how it is related to Earth," Tsuda told reporters, according to a Friday news release.
The samples were collected during two separate landings on Ryugu last year. During the first, the probe collected dust and blasted a hole in the asteroid's surface to find additional material beneath it. Several months later, the probe returned to the crater it created to collect more samples.
This Nov. 13, 2019, file image released by JAXA, shows asteroid Ryugu taken by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft.
JAXA via AP
"We may be able to get substances that will give us clues to the birth of a planet and the origin of life... I'm very interested to see the substances," mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters.
The material is held in a 15-inch wide capsule that successfully separated from the probe about 136,701 miles above Earth on Saturday morning ahead of its planned descent into the Australian outback, near Woomera, South Australia. A parachute will open about six miles above the ground and signals will alert space agency officials to its location.
But the rescue mission could prove to be a challenge.
According to The Associated Press, JAXA officials set up satellite dishes, marine radar, drones and helicopters to assist in the scavenger hunt.
A fireball will streak across the sky during reentry, visible in the early morning hours of Sunday in Australia, hopefully pointing scientists in the direction of the capsule.
In this photo provided by JAXA, its crew members set up an antenna in preparation for the capsule collection in Woomera, South Australia in November 2020.
JAXA via AP
After officials find and collect the capsule, the samples will be processed and flown to Japan, then divided between researchers at JAXA, NASA and other international organizations.
Some samples will be set aside for future studies when technology has further advanced.
JAXA plans to extend Hayabusa2's mission for more than a decade, with its sights set on two new asteroids, 2001 CC21 and 1998 KY26.
The NASA OSIRIS-REx mission recently collected a sample from another near-Earth asteroid — Bennu, which is similar to Ryugu. The sample will return to Earth in 2023.