Japanese officials say they are pleased with the quality of asteroid material collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth.Last week, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, described the samples, which were collected from the Ryugu asteroid in July 2019.Ryugu sits more than 300 million kilometers from Earth.Japan's unpiloted Hayabusa2 spacecraft removed the material after blasting a hole into the asteroid.The space agency said the July 2019 mission aimed to collect samples from below the surface of Ryugu.During an earlier operation in February 2019, Hayabusa2 collected material from a different part of the asteroid.The second collection effort resulted in sample pieces as big as 1 centimeter, JAXA officials said.The black material looked similar to charcoal and was very hard, they added.It did not break apart when picked up or poured into another container.
