The six-year round trip to an asteroid named Ryugu will end in the red sands of Woomera, Australia
The Japanese space agency’s remarkable Hayabusa2 mission will on Sunday deliver the second-ever artificially collected sample of asteroid material when a return capsule falls to Earth at the Woomera rocket range in South Australia.
The Hayabusa2 probe has been on a 6bn km, ¥30bn ($388m) round trip to an asteroid named Ryugu, which started six years ago in December 2014. After landing on Ryugu twice last year, the spacecraft began its return journey to drop a capsule protected by a heat shield to deliver its payload.
Related: After six years and 6bn km, Japan's Hayabusa2 prepares to bring home cargo of asteroid dust
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