Asteroid explorer... the Hayabusa Spacecraft. Photo: Akihiro Ikeshita
A JAPANESE spacecraft will land in Australia in June, bringing with it samples from an asteroid found 300 million kilometres from Earth.
The unmanned Hayabusa spacecraft, launched in May 2003, will become the first spacecraft to bring asteroid material to Earth when it lands in Woomera, South Australia, later this year.
''This is the first sample of a solid solar system body brought back since the moon missions some 40 years ago,'' said Jonathan Nally, editor of spaceinfo.com.au. ''It's a tremendous achievement by the Japanese.''
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency said the 510-kilogram spacecraft made contact with the Itokawa asteroid in 2005 and has been making its return to Earth since then.
The innovation minister, Kim Carr, said the spacecraft will land within the 130,000 square kilometre Woomera Prohibited Area, the largest land-based test range in the world. ''Australia is proud to support Japan in this world-first expedition,'' Senator Carr said yesterday. ''Australia's contribution to this exciting space project will be significant.''
The spacecraft, which is carrying scientific instruments including wide-angle cameras and a telescopic camera, has also measured the gravity and surface condition of the Itokawa asteroid.
Scientists' understanding of asteroids has been limited to the study of meteorite samples. It is hoped the asteroid samples gathered by the spacecraft will give scientists an insight into the origin and evolution of the solar system as asteroids are, in Mr Nally's words, the builder's rubble of the solar system.
''These are the leftover bits that didn't get scooped up when the planets were forming,'' Mr Nally said.
''While the rocks on Earth have been melted and frozen and solidified many times over, asteroids could be the pristine stuff,'' he said.
Mr Nally said while there were many scientific questions to be answered by the study of asteroid material, there was also the benefit of learning ''what the enemy's made of'' - given that asteroids, which number tens of thousands, have been known to collide with Earth.
''If we're on a collision course with an asteroid … we need to know if they are rock-solid or if they are piles of rubble,'' he said. ''That will help us predict how best to deal with them.''