NHK has learned that the capsule from the Hayabusa2 space probe contains sand particles believed to be from the asteroid Ryugu.

The capsule was retrieved last week after traveling more than 5 billion kilometers.

Scientists are making final preparations to retrieve a capsule from a Japanese space probe that went to collect sand from an asteroid.

Japan's space agency, JAXA, launched Hayabusa2 in 2014. It has twice landed on an asteroid called Ryugu about 340 million kilometers from Earth.