is it possible to download the shape mesh and Texture, i can't find any download options anywhere (even after logging into my scetchfab account)

If you'd like to get Ryugu samples for testing - ASRG calls for proposals... For the first announcement of opportunity ~50 particles will be available:
https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/21-12-17.html
https://jaxa-ryugu-sample-ao.net/

Two papers on the first analyzes of Ryugu samples have been published in Nature Astronomy (open access!):

1. "Preliminary analysis of the Hayabusa2 samples returned from C-type asteroid Ryugu", by Toru Yada et al.:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01550-6
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01550-6.pdf

2. "First compositional analysis of Ryugu samples by the MicrOmega hyperspectral microscope", by Cedric Pilorget et al.:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01549-z
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01549-z.pdf

From abstracts:
Ad 1.: „...The average of the estimated bulk densities of Ryugu sample particles is 1,282 ± 231 kg m−3, which is lower than that of meteorites, suggesting a high microporosity down to the millimetre scale, extending centimetre-scale estimates from thermal measurements. The extremely dark optical to near-infrared reflectance and spectral profile with weak absorptions at 2.7 and 3.4 μm imply a carbonaceous composition with indigenous aqueous alteration, matching the global average of Ryugu and confirming that the sample is representative of the asteroid. Together with the absence of submillimetre CAIs and chondrules, these features indicate that Ryugu is most similar to CI chondrites but has lower albedo, higher porosity and more fragile characteristics...”
[Yada, T., Abe, M., Okada, T. et al. Preliminary analysis of the Hayabusa2 samples returned from C-type asteroid Ryugu. Nat Astron (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01550-6]
Hi-res images of samples - https://media.springernature.com/full/sprin...ESM.jpg?as=webp

Ad. 2: „...Strong features at 2.7 µm (indicating their OH-rich content) and at 3.4 µm (diagnostic of the presence of organics) dominate at a global scale, but key distinctive signatures have been identified at a submillimetre scale. In particular, carbonates (a fraction of them enriched in iron) as well as NH-rich compounds have been detected. The occurrence of volatile-rich species, likely originating from the outer Solar System, would support Ryugu having preserved both pristine material and altered phases, which are now available for refined laboratory analyses with the potential to draw new insights into the formation and evolution paths of planetary bodies in our Solar System...”
[Pilorget, C., Okada, T., Hamm, V. et al. First compositional analysis of Ryugu samples by the MicrOmega hyperspectral microscope. Nat Astron (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01549-z]
a few pictures:
https://media.springernature.com/full/sprin...TML.png?as=webp
https://media.springernature.com/full/sprin...TML.png?as=webp

Material from December press conference: report from the curation team, current status of spacecraft operations and details on the public display of the Ryugu samples
https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/enjoy/mate...06_ver6_en2.pdf
Credit: JAXA

The Ryugu samples catalogue - database (with pictures) is now open:
https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/curation/hayabusa2/



The bigest particle - C9000, from chamber C, size: 10.345 mm, weight: 138.1 mg
Credit: ISAS/JAXA https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/curation/hayabus...p?sample_id=702

The famous "alien fragment" - most likely a metal scrap scratched from the sample horn (SMP) by fired bullet (sample C0110, from chamber C, size: 7.583 mm, weight: 4.0 mg)

Credit: ISAS/JAXA https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/curation/hayabus...p?sample_id=845

Some other interesting particles and an example of "elevation map" of one of the particles

Credit: ISAS/JAXA https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/curation/hayabusa2/

It's great to see JAXA provide a chance to view then in such an open format!

The 'glitter' effect certainly gives them an otherworldly property. The colours are just camera artifacts from the light reflecting, right? (to the extent that any light reflects off such dark materials!)

I also think they are amazingly beautiful and very much from different world - the most alien we currently possess! (from the unprocessed by the Earth's atmosphere - I mean not counting the meteorites).

As for the colors, we have to remember that these are micrographs - these particles are actually tiny, and there is a lot of "color noise" - an artifact from the way the camera's color CCD image sensor works. This is clearly visible on the background surface next to the particles - especially in the shade. Therefore, at the smallest scale, the light points on the samples have „artificial” colors. These particles are almost monochromatic (like e.g. most lunar rocks) - almost black with lighter minerals (grayish white spots). But it seems to me that in general, on a larger scale, you can notice a slightly brownish shade - even slightly yellowish or reddish in places. Some places of the samples also seem to fall more into cool colors - grayish-bluish. But it might just be my subjective impression, an artifact resulting from lighting conditions or image compression! Only the spectra are objective

Below: fragment of the original photograph with the background in shadow, and next to it with color saturated by me - the pattern of colors in a shaded background reflects the CCD sensor, I think.

I'm pretty sure - someone please correct if I'm wrong - that what we are seeing here is stuff that never would have made it through earth's atmosphere in any form other than a little bit of roasted dust. In other words, too fragile to have ever made it into any meteorite collection.

New interesting article about pebbles flying over the Ryugu surface during touchdowns and more... (open access):

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science...24?utm_campaign
https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.abj8624
https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/002943.html

Good article by Dr. Elizabeth Tasker discussing the last of the three papers linked above by member Marcin600, Tachibana, et al., "Pebbles and sand on asteroid (162173) Ryugu: in situ observation and particles returned to Earth," Science, 10 February 2022.



https://twitter.com/girlandkat/status/1493085869682479104

Dr. Tasker is an astrophysicist who studies star and planet formation, and also a very good popular science writer. She tweets about her work at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and about her life with a cat. She's worth following. https://twitter.com/girlandkat

Reading all these texts convinces me that these small pebbles brought to the Earth by Hayabusa2 are a perfect reflection of the vast majority of rocks, boulders and stones on the surface of Ryugu. They look the same, have the same texture, structure, color, chemical composition, cracks, etc. etc. So, these small grains are for researchers the same as large stones - if, for example, they were brought by astronauts landing on Ryugu!

In fact, it looks as if Ryugu has an almost fractal structure!
[A similar phenomenon was observed by the Rosetta probe and the Philae lander on the nucleus of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It might just be a feature typical of primitive (little modified) Worlds in the Solar System (and maybe not only here!).]

However, I am a bit disappointed with the complete absence of chondrules and CAIs (calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions) in the Ryugu material, and common in chondrites
I was hoping to finally see the natural "chondrite rock" - the mythical „oldest and most primeval rock” and „source of chondrite meteorites”...

The ~700-meter near-earth asteroid 2001 CC21 (98943) - target of Hayabusa2 July 2026 flyby - as seen on February 1, 2022 by Bisei Spaceguard Center (BSGC) 1 m telescope (approximate brightness of CC21 is 18.4 mag):
https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/20220218_2001_CC21/ (with movie)
Crdit: JAXA, Imaging: JSF/JSGA

In this video from yesterday “JAXA Sagamihara Campus Online Special Opening”, day 2, March 26, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdXrf-4tb6M
from 3:27:20 until 3:42:03
there are some interesting videos of laboratory testing of Ryugu samples in ASRG Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center clean room (audio in Japanese)

Ryugu samples closely match primitive CI meteorites like. Ivana and Orgeil.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7850

Surprisingly (to me) one of the conclusions of this study is that the parent body from Ryugu experienced conditions with liquid water at 37°C:




Was it expected to find such conditions in the early solar system formation?

We've discovered meteorites that show evidence of exposure to liquid water during formation. Some like Murchison even have halite crystals. My understanding is that it's thought that during the accretion phase conditions inside of at least some parent bodies were (briefly) able to sustain layers or small pockets of liquid water but of course they cooled very quickly thereafter and the water was largely driven off during subsequent impacts and fragmentation of the original planetesimals.

Abstracts from presentations given at the “Hayabusa symposium 2021” have now been released:
https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...t/abs_2021.html

Topics include sampling of asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, but also Itokawa, Moon, meteorites and future ones: Phobos and Mars.
For me, the following abstracts seem particularly interesting:
„JAXA Detailed Description -Variation of surface characteristics of Ryugu returned samples” Nakato A. et al. - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...S2-3_Nakato.pdf
„Surface morphologies and space weathering features of Ryugu samples” Matsumoto T. et al. - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...6_Matsumoto.pdf
„CNHOS contents with their isotopic compositions and preliminary organic profiles from the Hayabusa2 samples” Yoshinori T. et al. - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...S3-7_Takano.pdf
„Color Mapping of Asteroid Bennu” DellaGiustina D.N. et al. - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...llaGiustina.pdf
„Hydrothermal history of (162173) Ryugu’s parent body inferred from remote-sensing data” Tatsumi E. et al. - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...4-3_Tatsumi.pdf
from this abstract - on Phaethon: „...The similarity for both Ryugu and Phaethon, that neither exhibits a strong UV nor 2.7-µm OH-band absorption for the entire rotational phases, might result in similar spectral changes due to space weathering on both asteroids. Thus, the majority of Phaethon’s surface could be explained by freshness due to rejuvenation caused by the recent encounter with the Sun, i.e. fresh cometary activity...”

„The young basalts on the Moon: Pb–Pb isochron dating in Chang’e-5 Basalt CE5C0000YJYX03501GP” Liu D. et al. - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...21/S6-7_Liu.pdf

Hayabusa2 press briefing, June 29, 2022 (in English), very informative:
https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/enjoy/materia...9_ver13_en2.pdf

- Project results
- Sample analysis
- Ryugu history
- Extended Mission
- Current status of spacecraft operation

Grains of dust from asteroid Ryugu older than our solar system
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-grains-astero...lder-solar.html

...some of which have been dated to 7 billion years ago. The researchers found that the dust sample held grains identical to all of the others that have been seen in meteorites, showing that it too predates the solar system.

Hey all, I haven't seen this paper by JAXA's Stone Analysis Team mentioned, so I thought I'd share it - it's an interesting summary of their investigation & findings so far: Press release link (free) https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2022/09/20220923-1_e.html

Paper link (pay to view) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn8671

Three new articles on the Ryugu samples (and gases) published in October 2022 - free access:

On the two "extra" Ryugu particles found - 1 mm and 0.5 mm:

1. „Ryugu particles found outside the Hayabusa2 sample container”:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/geoche...J22017/_article
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/geoche...7/_pdf/-char/en - pdf

Gas analyzes:

2. „Noble gases and nitrogen in samples of asteroid Ryugu record its volatile sources and recent surface evolution”:
https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2022/10/20221021-1_e.html
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo0431
https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.abo0431 - pdf

3. „First asteroid gas sample delivered by the Hayabusa2 mission: A treasure box from Ryugu”:
https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2022/10/20221021-2_e.html
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abo7239
https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.abo7239 - pdf

New, interesting research results (in English, open access) - avalanches, and the formation of top-shaped asteroids and rubble-pile satellites
Formation of Moons and Equatorial Ridge around Top-shaped Asteroids after Surface Landslide:
https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/22-11-30.html
https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/research-port...eway/2022/1125/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac922d
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/...8213/ac922d/pdf

(the research summary at the second link contains video simulations)

The research concerns not only Ryugu, but also Bennu and Didymos-Dimorphos.

Fascinating.

In Science Volume 379, Issue 6634, February 24, 2023:
„...In this issue, the results of laboratory analyses of the Ryugu samples are reported in five studies that investigate elemental abundances, isotope ratios, mineralogy, organic molecules, and more...” - https://www.science.org/toc/science/379/6634

Of these, 3 have open access:
An asteroid in the laboratory (an introductory text) - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh2109
Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu are similar to Ivuna-type carbonaceous meteorites - https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.abn7850
Noble gases and nitrogen in samples of asteroid Ryugu record its volatile sources and recent surface evolution - https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.abo0431

The next two, very interestig articles from the February 24, 2023 Science issue, on organic matter in the Ryugu samples, are discussed in detail by JAXA - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/23-02-24.html

1. The paper in Science: „Soluble organic molecules in samples of the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu” - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn9033
Detailed overview: „Soluble Organic Matter (SOM) Team reveals organic molecule compositions in samples of asteroid Ryugu” - https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2023/02/20230224-1_e.html

2. The paper in Science: „Macromolecular organic matter in samples of the asteroid (162173) Ryugu” - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn9057
Detailed overview: „The dark Macromolecular organic matter of asteroid Ryugu” - https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2023/02/20230224-2_e.html

New paper on Ryugu samples:
"Variations of the surface characteristics of Ryugu returned samples" (open access):
https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.co...623-022-01754-8
https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.co...022-01754-8.pdf
https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/23-03-28.html

Occultation by asteroid 2001 CC21 has been observed
https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/202303...CC21/index.html
https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/20230314_2001_CC21/

[only in Japanese - here's a rough automatic translation of the excerpts]:

“… An occultation (stellar eclipse), in which (…) asteroid 2001 CC21 hides a star, was observed during an occultation observation campaign conducted (…) on March 5, 2023. During the observation we monitored the light of a 10.1-magnitude star in Camellia (TYC4082-00763-1) to see if the light from this star faded.

Observations were made from 20 points (…) However, the occultation was observed only in one place.

The time during which the star was hidden (occultation time) was 0.105 seconds. This is 449 m ± 12 m in length. (…) The size of CC21 is estimated to be about 700 m (…), is said to have a slightly elongated shape, and the short part [of the atseroid] may have been measured in this observation.

We also examined the orbital accuracy of CC21 as of July 2026, when Hayabusa2 spacecraft will fly by, and found that the positional error of CC21 is 47 km (1σ).

There are still opportunities for occultation observations by CC21, so we hope to observe a stellar eclipse in the next observation (…). It may also be possible to determine the shape of the asteroid by conducting more accurate occultation observations in the future…”

Here are published abstracts from the Hayabusa Symposium (latest from 2022):
https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abstract/index.html

2022: https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs.../abs_2022.html#

e.g. some interesting articles:

The Aguas Zarcas breccia - similarities to surface features of C-type asteroids Ryugu and Bennu - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...4_Kerraouch.pdf

Distinct ages and temperatures of aqueous activities recorded in Ryugu samples - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...6_Nagashima.pdf

Elastic property of Ryugu samples collected at the second touch-down site - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...-07_Onodera.pdf

Slickenside as a record of shock metamorphism on asteroid Ryugu - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...08_Miyahara.pdf

Molecular descriptors for dictating the aqueous-alteration-induced organic decomposition in carbonaceous chondrites and return sample from Ryugu asteroid - https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/symposium/abs...2/S11-05_Li.pdf

One more paper has come out on Hayabusa sample results, showing how liquid water in the parent asteroid shuffled some key isotopes around, particularly chromium isotopes.

Link: Article in online science dot org (open access)

New interesting results from the analysis of Ryugu samples (November 15, 2023):
„A newly revised estimation of bulk densities and examination of the shape of individual Ryugu grains” (open access)
https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.co...623-023-01904-6
https://curation.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/23-11-15.html

Some conclusions:
1. The average bulk density of 637 Ryugu grains, corresponding to 38 wt.% of the total returned samples (724 grains), is 1.79 ± 0.31 g/cm3.
2. The obtained bulk density is consistent with the density of a CI (Orgueil) chondrite: the average bulk density of Ryugu grains in the range of 1.57‒1.91 g/cm3 reported for Orgueil CI chondrites appears to support that Ryugu samples are similar to CI chondrites.
3. Microporosity of the examined Ryugu grains was roughly estimated to be 26‒31%, which is slightly higher than the latest data for the Orgueil CI chondrite and is close to the lowest value for the average Ryugu boulders.
4. 3D shape of Ryugu grains: the axial ratios (...) of Ryugu grains showed similar distribution to flying particles ejected from the Ryugu surface during sampling operations. Millimeter- to centimeter-sized Ryugu grains and pebbles may have a nearly uniform shape despite the returned sample show some shape deviation due to the mechanical scrape in the container.

The article also contains information on the "white grains" "decorating" these black stones: the white//transparent material, frequently found in Ryugu samples, was found to be complex carbonate-rich structures of crystals (minerals): dolomites (Ca-Mg carbonate) and breunnerites (Fe-bearing magnesite - Mg-Fe carbonate).


My own CI Orgueil meteorite fragment (0.007 g) - an "analogue" of Ryugu samples: