Japanese spacecraft touches down on distant asteroid

A Japanese spacecraft named after a falcon has touched down on a distant asteroid on a mission to collect material that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system.

Workers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) control centreapplauded Friday as a signal sent from space indicated theHayabusa2spacecraft had touched down. The successful landing cameafter an initial attempt in October was delayed because it was difficult to pick a landing spot on the asteroid's rocky surface

JAXAsaidHayabusa 2 fired a small projectile into the surface of Ryugu to collect particles scientists hope the spacecraft will bring back to Earth for analysis.

"We may have caused some worry due to the delay but we carried out our plan flawlessly over the past four months to bring it to a successful landing," project manager Yuichi Tsuda told a news conference.

"It landed in the best circumstances among the scenarios we envisioned," he said.

The asteroid, namedRyuguafter an undersea palace in a Japanesefolktale, is about 900 metresin diameter and 280 million kilometresfrom Earth.

Asteroids are believed to have formed at the dawn of the solar system and scientists say Ryugucouldcontain organic matter that may have contributed to life on Earth.