China, Japan Both Returning Solar System Samples to Earth

While China’s Chang’e 5 mission’s orbiter and ascender are on their way back to Earth with extensive lunar soil samples from various depths, a Japanese space capsule returning the world’s first asteroid subsurface samples has landed in the remote Australian Outback. The spacecraft Hayabusa2 ("Peregrine Falcon2") released the small capsule on Dec. 5 and sent it towards Earth to deliver samples from a distant asteroid. At about 6 miles above ground, a parachute was opened to slow its fall and beacon signals were transmitted to indicate its location in the sparsely populated area of Woomera in southern Australia. It is reported recovered “in perfect shape.”