Japanese probe has returned

Space probe Hayabusa returning to Earth (picture from here)

Last week, the Japanese probe Hayabusa returned to Earth and landed in a remote part of Southern Australia. The probe touched down on an asteroid in 2005 and it is believed to have collected samples there. If it had managed to bring these samples back successfully, this is the first time when a probe got into physical contact with an asteroid and then returned to Earth. Although the probe itself was damaged on entering the Earth's atmosphere, the capsule that carried the samples is expected to have parachuted safely in the desert. Scientists are eager to recover and examine the samples. They believe that new details about the evolution of the solar system are to be revealed. You can read more about this scientific breakthrough here.