Particles Found Inside Hayabusa

Microscopic view of dust particles inside Hayabusa (JAXA)

Possible samples from asteroid Itokawa (JAXA)

Last week Japanese scientists unloaded the sample return probe Hayabusa and were delighted to find particles within the spaceship. These could be the remnants of a deep space mission to the asteroid Itokawa that were scooped up several years ago. The Japanese are being very careful to not jump the gun on announcing the material is indeed from an interplanetary origin. They will announce in a few months if it indeed space dust from the asteroid or Earth material from Hayabusa's violent impact when they know for sure.