ABSTRACT
Hayabusa2 came back to Earth and the sample return capsule landed in Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA), Australia as planned on December 6, 2020. In the recovery operation all the function of the capsule system and finding system worked fine. The recovery operation teams found and recovered the capsule smoothly. After gas collection from the sample container, the capsule was quickly transported to Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center in Sagamihara, Japan. The sample container was carefully opened, and 5.4g of C-type asteroid material was first confirmed in the world. Before these operations, the recovery operation team discussed with the government about the transport procedure and the environment impact even in the off-nominal cases with supported by Australian Space Agency (ASA). With reflecting the discussion, the recovery operation plan was applied to Australian government with safety plan and emergency plan in August 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic was increased in early 2020. It made the situation difficult. The entry to Australia was restricted and the regular international flight was almost suspended. After many discussions, the counter measure plan was added on the operation plan and we finally obtained Authorisation of Return of Overseas-Launched Space Object (AROLSO) in August 2020. Copyright ©2021 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.