Science and technology minister Hagiuda Koichi says a capsule brought back by Japan's Hayabusa2 asteroid probe contained at least 5.4 grams of samples. That's more than 50 times the targeted volume.
Hagiuda spoke to reporters on Friday after observing the ongoing work to analyze the samples by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
A capsule released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's space probe Hayabusa2 arrived at a lab near Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. Officials held a news conference during which they thanked the public for warmly welcoming back the capsule.
The capsule is believed to contain samples from the Ryugu asteroid. It was retrieved after landing in an Australian desert on Sunday and arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Tuesday morning.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, says a capsule released by the agency's asteroid probe Hayabusa2 will arrive in Japan from Australia on Tuesday morning.
The capsule is believed to contain sand samples from the Ryugu asteroid. It was retrieved after landing in an Australian desert on Sunday.
A capsule released from Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 has been observed re-entering Earth's atmosphere, with witnesses in Australia seeing a fireball like a big shooting star in the sky.
The capsule, which is believed to be carrying sand samples from the remote asteroid Ryugu, was on course to land in a desert in South Australia.
Japanese scientists say the operation to release a capsule from Japan's space probe Hayabusa2 is proceeding smoothly.
The project team of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, says the release of the capsule, believed to contain sand from the asteroid Ryugu, will take place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Japan time, at 220,000 kilometers from Earth.