Well-BeingExploring the origins of life

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is an organization with 20 centers throughout Japan, as well as five international bases. JAXA's primary purpose is to contribute to society by conducting a wide range of activities in the aerospace field, from basic research to the development and utilization of groundbreaking technologies. We visited JAXA, at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Sagamihara Campus) where various subjects related to the entire universe such as the activities of the sun, the origin of the moon, planets, black holes, and galaxies are thoroughly researched. The Sagamihara Campus is also the home base of the asteroid explorers Hayabusa and Hayabusa2.

We interviewed Dr. Akiko Miyazaki, a researcher in the Astromaterials Science Research Group at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. One of the roles of ASRG is management of ESCuC that conducts the curatorial work of the JAXA's return samples, such as samples from Itokawa (Hayabusa) and from Ryugu (Hayabusa2). The initial description identifying the characteristics of these samples is performed by members of ESCuC (curators). Dr. Miyazaki is a curator and is involved in management, analysis and description of Ryugu samples.

“Ryugu is designated as a C-type asteroid and is considered to be related to carbonaceous chondrites (meteorites) that fly to the earth," says Dr. Miyazaki. She added, “Like carbonaceous chondrites, C-type asteroids are considered to be rich in water and organic materials. These might still be present in such asteroids as they were when the Solar System was forming. Ryugu is like a time capsule. It could provide clues as to the origin of life and water of the Earth."
In December 2020, when Hayabusa2 passed closest to the Earth, it released a capsule containing samples taken from Ryugu and safely delivered them to the Earth. Since then, Hayabusa2 has been continuing its journey of exploration to new targets on its extended mission.

The total amount of samples from Ryugu delivered by Hayabusa2 to Earth weighed only 5.4 grams – but was more than 50 times the target of 0.1 grams. The materials were in the form of a black sand, with some particles being several millimeters in size, which was a great surprise that went beyond previous expectations.
A dedicated clean room and clean chamber*1 were prepared for handling the Ryugu samples. The clean room where the microscope is installed provides air cleanliness that is about 10,000 times that of a normal office. The interior of the chamber is filled with high-purity nitrogen. This is to prevent any influence of air and dust. In this environment, the samples of sand grains and fine particles are placed individually in special dishes for observation and analysis.