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Taste of Cinema - Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists > Lists > Film Lists > The 13 Best Documentaries About True Crimes
The 13 Best Documentaries About True Crimes
Posted on April 28, 2015 April 28, 2015 by Zac Petrillo
While the human obsession with true crime might be innate, the nonfiction genre is relatively new to be taken seriously. With the recent success of the HBO series, The Jinx, and the hit podcast, Serial, true crime seems to be on everybody's minds.
Investigating crime might be inherently interesting for anybody with a taste for documentary, but there's a moral and ethical standard that comes with any story of this kind. Also, taste plays a huge factor in whether these films stray into camp or exploitation.
News hours have made their livings off society's thirst for criminal behavior and it's a fine line between simply reporting a dramatic occurrence and digging into the mechanics of how those illegal activities take shape.
As such, an impactful, lasting true crime film has to work double-time to be respectful to the people involved, diligent about the facts, and ultimately entertaining. One wrong move and a crime film can get lost in the vortex of multitudes that have sunk to the trash heap.
The following list explores nonfiction from multiple angles. Some, like The Thin Blue Line and The Central Park Five, take on wrongful convictions and the ensuing public outrage, while others excavate a botched investigation in search of a greater truth, as seen in Capturing the Friedmans.
Others, like The Iceman, are crime films by process of possessing a central character who has dedicated a life to murder and having a story that's a window into a fractured psychology.
We've also included some that are rarely considered true crime films, Resurrect Dead: The Msytery of the Toynbee Tiles and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, that take on subjects who are only technically committing the sorts of misconduct synonymous with standard crime stories, however, their makers smartly package them with similar mysterious handling.
13. The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hitman (2001)
Two separate HBO-produced documentaries made a decade apart, The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hitman is a first person story of a killer-for-hire who is credited with being one of the most prolific murderers in American history. Richard Kuklinski is said to have killed between 100 to 250 men from 1948 to 1986, each on a contract from the mafia.
In this documentary, Kuklinski tells his side of the story after years of silence. Called 'The Iceman' because of his cold and calculated demeanor, nothing less is offered here in claustrophobic talking head frames that examine Kuklinski's unflinching face.
He recounts the story of his childhood, a growing connection with the mafia, and a philosophy of only doing his job as efficiently as possible. He speaks with candidness while discussing his attitude that hurting people is the only way to get them to respect you. "Nice guys finish last," is a theme that Kuklinski relates continuously.
In the second part, produced ten yeasr after the first, with Kuklinski now imprisoned for over a decade, the killer has calmed a bit, gaining even charisma and regret. Where he comes off as black and despondent initially, he now seems to have gained perspective and openness, with less of a chip on his shoulder.
In a sense, Errol Morris' interrotron method of first person recollections may owe a debt to The Iceman. The lack of directorial interference or trickery works to allow the man to be both as open and evasive as he chooses while also highlighting the terror he inflicts without effort. The camera takes on the point of view of an observer in the room with this frightening being, scared to do anything more than listen.
12. The Imposter (2012)
Rarely if ever does the criminal become the key to solving a far greater crime. In The Imposter, the titular character at the center does just that.
For first portion of the story, filmmaker Bart Layton gets the viewer on the side of his quirky, squirrelly, conman protagonist, Frederic Bourdin, by allowing him to spin us grandiose tales of fitting into the identities of others in order to commit crimes or evade authorities. He explains that his motive stems from a broken childhood that left him lost and, obviously, identity-less.
Like the very best conmen, Frederic feigns innocence by seeming too charming, too clueless, and too backwards to actually be ahead on a deception of intelligent adults. And until the very end it's difficult to know how much of these games Frederic understands or truly falls into. However, the fulcrum of the story strays from this dynamic, when Frederic finds himself a little too deep in a con he may not want to be a part of.
Central to The Impostor is the story of Frederic tricking a Texas family into thinking he is a young relative who disappeared years earlier. How he falls into such a scam is nothing short of dumb luck, or as we slowly figure out, perhaps a good bit of conniving on both the sides of the game. The con artist's story of kidnapping in Europe is elaborate, though conspicuously simple. Too simple.
Frederic has a French accent, which he lies and says he picked up during years held captive. The family buys it. He doesn't look the same, but years have passed and he's been under stress. The family buys it. He looks older than the relative would be, his eye color is different, his demeanor has transformed and his mannerisms have changed, but he's been under the stress of a foreign land.
These things, he explains, can happen. The family buys it. It takes a bullshitter to smell bullshit and miraculously Frederic, along with the narrative itself, starts to realize this latest con is too good to be true. At some point, Frederic asks one of those kinds of questions that has gotten him caught in the past. In this case, "What really did happen that boy I'm pretending to be?"
11. The Central Park Five (2012)
By the time The Central Park Five arrived in theaters in 2012, almost a decade had passed since five young men were exonerated for the rape that makes up the core story. To most, the case was over, the real criminal had been brought to justice, and there was nothing more to explore. That is, those still living with the scars were forgotten by a world that had moved on.
The true crime at the center of Ken and Sarah Burns' film is how easily a highly publicized case can be brushed under the rug, with many still assuming the wrongfully accused were the true perpetrators and no justice being served for extensive time spent unfairly behind bars.
Central Park Five focused on an event in New York at the tail end of a tumultuous 1980s that took the city by storm causing the media and the government to pin the crime on black teenagers thought to be near the scene, something that multiple parties used as fodder for fear-mongering and a need for city clean up.
Before ever seeing a courtroom, the city had decided these kids were guilty. So guilty in fact that the pressure was one of the many ways the film details that NYPD interrogators forced confessions that ultimately signed the boys' fates.
The film indicts a legal system that spends its time seeking out a confirmation bias in order to provide a sense of status quo to citizens. Black boys acting out as hood rats in the middle of the night is a created construct that the poor kids fell into simply by being the wrong place at the wrong time.
The second portion of The Central Park Five portrays a city with little interest in atonement for the sin of taking the formative years away from innocent children. An almost unspoken string of racism threads from the very moment the crime has been committed all the way to a system hardly wanting to be bothered with assisting five men who are seen as likely throwaways anyhow.
To this very day Central Park at night is off limits to a white culture who was scared to death of what the media fed them after a bungled investigation. Lost in all the disgust of legalities is a victim who suffered a horrible event only to watch her misery become a lynchpin for profit and political goals.
10. Cropsey (2009)
The visceral line between documentary and fiction is rivaled in effect only by horror storytelling. Wherein precisely that same line is drawn when we fear our worst nightmares could become a reality. This is the stuff campfire stories are built upon. However, the effect is even greater when folded into an actual nonfiction narrative, which is precisely what directors Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio achieve with Cropsey.
At first a tale of a boogeyman-like urban legend in New York City, Cropsey transitions into the true story of a child kidnapper who lurked in Staten Island. In a sense, the film is the inverse of The Blair Witch Project in that it sets out to mythicize our nightmares while at once combining them with a very realistic event. It's as if we've awoken from a bad dream only to find a killer standing over us in real life.
The combination of scary movies and documentary seems rather obvious when considering that found footage films have been built on the present tense immediacy of a real world crumbling under terrifying circumstances. John Carpenter used handheld camerawork to invoke naturalistic fear in Hallowee,n as did Tobe Hooper in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
What Cropsey gets right is what many others never touch upon. While some of the worst scenarios come seemingly out of nowhere, or the because of the obliviousness of ignorance, the even greater panic comes when the boogeyman we already fear turns out to be a living, breathing being right under our noses.
As humans, we are built to dread the worst, as when a serial killer is reported nearby. Very few are ever actually victims of their nightmares. But as Cropsey so creepily explores, some are.
9. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles (2011)
There's only technically a crime at the core of Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. That technicality involves a mysterious man who has been leaving stamps that read "TOYNBEE IDEA IN Kubrick's 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER." throughout the streets of Philadelphia and other cities along the Northeast of America.
However, filmmaker Jon Foy handles the material like it is one part noir and one part character exposé. Like the very best mysteries, the exposure will ostensibly occur to the perpetrator being hunted, but in reality it's the story of the man doing the hunting that magnetizes.
Justin Duerr, a Philadelphian who has spent his life drifting and dabbling in drugs, finds himself fascinated by the sight of the tiles. Like a classic detective novel, Resurrect Dead joins Duerr as he's just poking his feet into the water, only to then follow him through the twists and turns of how the tiles got where they are. Resurrect Dead is less about the destination than the spooky fun of the journey.
Paying attention to the science fiction obsession of both the target and the searcher, Foy intelligently weaves science-themed animation, electronic music, and sound effects into Duerr's search.
In other hands this could have been a straight forward unraveling of the inscrutable man behind an equally enigmatic act of vandalism, however, Foy figures out quickly that this investigation not only enraptures his protagonist, but it may be his only path to getting his life on track.
In turn, the film also draws parallels between the lonely, hidden man whose only act of expression comes from tiling the streets of a city and the man who is hunting him down. Along the way, Duerr uncovers some spine-tingling finds such as how the man manages to tile the middle of a highway, along with his creepy shortwave radio station and his bizarre connection to a then young playwright named David Mamet.
Criminally under-seen, Resurrect Dead is an essential contemporary documentary for its real time crime investigation and innate understanding of characters in search of purpose.
8. The True Crime Cinema of Nick Broomfield (Kurt & Courtney, Biggie & Tupac, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, Tales of a Grim Sleeper)
Nick Broomfield, the provocateur, artist, journalist with a lens and boom pole in your face, transcends the impression of any one of his pictures. Not that the crime-based films don't each stand with their own unique merits, but taken together the effect of Broomfield's work outshines any one particular exploration.
Using a two man crew, himself holding a mic and asking questions on the run along with a cameraman, Broomfield has mastered the on the fly, electronic news-gathering approach to investigation.
Often Broomfield plants himself as a stranger into a highly suspect location, as when he approaches Suge Knight in a prison courtyard to question him about the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls or when he lands in South Central LA questioning streetwalkers and drug dealers about their knowledge of a serial killer who once lived in their neighborhood.
The effect of Broomfield's work is going along for a ride that we as audiences often wish we had the courage to go on in real life. As such, there's no presumption that a neat ending will be discovered, therefore it is the 'in the shit' approach that makes Broomfield's documentaries so intoxicating.
Before Charlize Theron immortalized her in Monster, Aileen Wuornos was the startling subject of not one but two Broomfield documentaries that set out to get inside the mind of the rare female serial murderer, a killer with seemingly the most deliberate motivations.
Accused often for his bludgeoning curiosity and preoccupation with clickbait, headline-grabbing controversy, Broomfield is at worst a gossip columnist with a camera. However, his research is right there for the world to see, which makes the moments he discovers impossible to dismiss.
There was never a chance Suge Knight would admit to involvement in the highly publicized rapper killings, but we can watch his face when the questions are asked and thus from such reactions form answers he avoids giving. If there's one true crime filmmaker who brings the viewer right up into his self-reflexive process it's Nick Broomfield.
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The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS), hosted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and co-hosted by the University of Pretoria (UP), was launched on 15th April, 2014. Transdisciplinary research, capacity development, knowledge sharing and engagement activities are underway to fill strategy and policy knowledge gaps and to realise food security for poor, vulnerable and marginal populations. This is in line with our goal to become the leading hub of knowledge production on food security and nutrition in Africa.
As might be anticipated, research at the Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE) in 2016 has generated a plethora of results at different levels of detail, innovation and impact. This information is provided in the body of the report and in the publications listed in the appendices. A number of key findings are especially noteworthy.
This paper analyses the policy agendas that shape the food environment in South Africa, and aims to identify potential to improve policy coherence for nutrition, across economic sectors in South Africa. From a food supply perspective, food security and nutrition policy is effectively governed by economic policy actors – this includes agriculture, trade, finance, investment and commerce/industry.
There is growing concern around the impact of formal retailers and supermarkets, in particular on marginalised urban communities in developing countries. This report unpacks the impact of formal retailers on informal micro-enterprises through a case study in Philippi East township, Cape Town. The cases focuses on a high street precinct which encompasses a number of formal food retailers and supermarkets. Supermarkets are the main supply of household food (in value terms), with residents spending about one third of their food purchases at one of three outlets.
In this report, we examine the determinants of child malnutrition using the Birth to Twenty data, a cohort study of children born in Soweto-Johannesburg in 1990. In particular, we focus on the causes of low height-for-age, or stunting, at age two, the measure most commonly used to capture chronic undernutrition in children. The consequences of stunting in early childhood have been widely studied across various disciplines, and include impaired cognitive function, poor schooling outcomes, reduced earnings in adulthood and poor maternal reproductive health outcomes (Walker, Chang, Powell & Grantham-McGregor, 2005; Victora et al. 2008; Dewey & Begum, 2011).
The informal sector's role in food security: A missing link in policy debates?
Why does malnutrition persist in South Africa despite social grants?
The global food system is characterised by increasing concentration and financialisation.


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Supermodel Naomi Campbell is merging fashion and philanthropy through her charity, Fashion for Relief, and spotlighting humanitarian causes in the Arab world. Originally printed in the November issue. Words by Rebecca McLaughlin-Duane.
Campbell's philanthropic dreams were realized in 2005 when she founded the charitable organization Fashion for Relief. Since then, her humanitarian reach – and millions of dollars raised from star-studded runway shows, auctions, and VIP gala dinners – has extended to tackling the Ebola crisis in west Africa, helping victims of Hurricane Katrina in the US, and aiding those affected by earthquakes in Haiti and Japan. Most recently, Campbell's attentions have turned to the Middle East, and in May she raised funds for Save the Children and its Syria Crisis Appeal at a glittering benefit in Cannes. "It's something that had been on my mind for about three years prior to the event," she says. "When I said I wanted to do it, people told me it's 'too political' and 'too risky' but the issue just wouldn't leave my mind. There was no way I wasn't going to do it." The glamorous French Riviera fundraiser saw Hollywood heavyweights Leonardo DiCaprio and Antonio Banderas lend their support to her cause alongside the guest of honor – and Campbell's friend – Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan.
In the ensuing decade, Campbell sashayed the runway for every luminary in the ready-to-wear and couture cosmos – and her walking days would appear far from over. In Milan, at Versace's Spring 2018 show, it was a resplendent, statuesque Campbell who strode before the fashion pack, flanked by her contemporaries from the Nineties: Carla, Claudia, Cindy, and Helena. Editors watched agape as some of the original supermodels, with sass now rarely seen on the ramp, stole the limelight and showed the younger generation – Cindy Crawford's daughter, Kaia Gerber, included – how it's done.


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Preliminary analysis of the Hayabusa2 samples returned from C-type asteroid Ryugu
Toru Yada ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7971-510X1,
Masanao Abe1,2,
Tatsuaki Okada ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6381-81071,3,
Aiko Nakato ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2392-14971,
Kasumi Yogata1,
Akiko Miyazaki ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7427-22851,
Kentaro Hatakeda1,4,
Kazuya Kumagai1,4,
Masahiro Nishimura1,
Yuya Hitomi1,4,
Hiromichi Soejima1,4,
Miwa Yoshitake1 nAff35,
Ayako Iwamae1,4 nAff36,
Shizuho Furuya1,3,
Masayuki Uesugi1,5,
Yuzuru Karouji ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8540-29861,6,
Tomohiro Usui ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4653-293X1,
Tasuku Hayashi1,
Daiki Yamamoto ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6852-29541,
Ryota Fukai ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1477-829X1,
Seiji Sugita ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6076-36143,7,
Yuichiro Cho ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2749-22043,
Koki Yumoto ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6160-93603,
Yuna Yabe3,
Jean-Pierre Bibring8,
Cedric Pilorget ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7759-98548,
Vincent Hamm8,
Rosario Brunetto ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3001-93628,
Lucie Riu1,8,
Lionel Lourit8,
Damien Loizeau ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6001-38808,
Guillaume Lequertier ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2821-37758,
Aurelie Moussi-Soffys9,
Shogo Tachibana ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4603-94401,3,
Hirotaka Sawada1,
Ryuji Okazaki10,
Yoshinori Takano ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1151-144X11,
Kanako Sakamoto1,
Yayoi N. Miura ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0945-24443,
Hajime Yano ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4125-08021,
Trevor R. Ireland ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7617-388912,
Tetsuya Yamada1,
Masaki Fujimoto1,
Kohei Kitazato ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4809-749213,
Noriyuki Namiki ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5374-372X14,
Masahiko Arakawa ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3670-269915,
Naru Hirata ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2435-604X13,
Hisayoshi Yurimoto ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0702-05331,16,
Tomoki Nakamura17,
Takaaki Noguchi18,
Hikaru Yabuta19,
Hiroshi Naraoka10,
Motoo Ito ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5686-024320,
Eizo Nakamura21,
Kentaro Uesugi ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2579-513X5,
Katsura Kobayashi ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1696-141821,
Tatsuhiro Michikami ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3096-578922,
Hiroshi Kikuchi1,
Naoyuki Hirata15,
Yoshiaki Ishihara ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0375-63006,
Koji Matsumoto14,
Hirotomo Noda14,
Rina Noguchi1,23,
Yuri Shimaki ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8966-76501,
Kei Shirai1,15,
Kazunori Ogawa ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4856-71086,
Koji Wada ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6710-17687,
Hiroki Senshu7,
Yukio Yamamoto1,
Tomokatsu Morota24,
Rie Honda25,
Chikatoshi Honda13,
Yasuhiro Yokota ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9230-974X1,
Moe Matsuoka ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1091-30411,26,
Naoya Sakatani ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4791-522727,
Eri Tatsumi3,28,
Akira Miura ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9018-60771,
Manabu Yamada ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0726-65927,
Atsushi Fujii ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0488-49691,29,
Chikako Hirose30,
Satoshi Hosoda ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1964-21051,
Hitoshi Ikeda30,
Takahiro Iwata ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4613-79561,2,
Shota Kikuchi1,7,
Yuya Mimasu1,
Osamu Mori ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9441-33561,
Naoko Ogawa1,6,
Go Ono30,
Takanobu Shimada1,6,
Stefania Soldini ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3121-38451,31,
Tadateru Takahashi1,32,
Yuto Takei ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3900-15401,
Hiroshi Takeuchi ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5863-46531,
Ryudo Tsukizaki ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6265-16721,
Kent Yoshikawa30,
Fuyuto Terui1,33,
Satoru Nakazawa ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4250-18261,
Satoshi Tanaka1,2,34,
Takanao Saiki1,
Makoto Yoshikawa1,2,
Sei-ichiro Watanabe ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5820-210224 &
Yuichi Tsuda1,2
Nature Astronomy (2021)Cite this article
Asteroids, comets and Kuiper belt
Meteoritics
C-type asteroids1 are considered to be primitive small Solar System bodies enriched in water and organics, providing clues to the origin and evolution of the Solar System and the building blocks of life. C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu has been characterized by remote sensing2,3,4,5,6,7 and on-asteroid measurements8,9 with Hayabusa2 (ref. 10). However, the ground truth provided by laboratory analysis of returned samples is invaluable to determine the fine properties of asteroids and other planetary bodies. We report preliminary results of analyses on returned samples from Ryugu of the particle size distribution, density and porosity, spectral properties and textural properties, and the results of a search for Ca–Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) and chondrules. The bulk sample mainly consists of rugged and smooth particles of millimetre to submillimetre size, confirming that the physical and chemical properties were not altered during the return from the asteroid. The power index of its size distribution is shallower than that of the surface boulder observed on Ryugu11, indicating differences in the returned Ryugu samples. The average of the estimated bulk densities of Ryugu sample particles is 1,282 ± 231 kg m−3, which is lower than that of meteorites12, suggesting a high microporosity down to the millimetre scale, extending centimetre-scale estimates from thermal measurements5,9. 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 Ryugu3,4 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.
On 6 December 2020, samples from the C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu were returned to Earth by Hayabusa2 in a hermetically sealed container within the re-entry capsule (Tachibana, S. et al., manuscript in preparation), and transported from South Australia to the Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center (ESCuC) in Sagamihara, Japan. Samples were recovered in a non-destructive manner and under a strict contamination-controlled conditions to perform initial descriptions before delivery for in-depth investigations by the nominated analytical teams and for future research worldwide, as detailed in the Methods and Extended Data Fig. 1. The asteroid Ryugu is the fourth extraterrestrial body of which samples have been returned to the Earth by spacecraft, following past sample return missions by Apollo13, Luna14 and Chang'e-515 from the Moon, Stardust from comet 81 P/Wild216 and Hayabusa from near-Earth S-type asteroid Itokawa17,18. The Ryugu sample has sizes ranging from ~8 mm, the largest average diameter, down to fine submillimetre dusts, with millimetre-scale particles being the most common (Extended Data Fig. 2).
A total of 5.424 ± 0.217 g was collected from Ryugu (Extended Data Fig. 2), and has been kept as physically and chemically pristine as possible, handled only in a vacuum or in purified nitrogen without exposure to Earth's atmosphere. From Chamber A, 3.237 ± 0.002 g of samples was recovered, collected during the first touch-down sampling (TD1) at the equatorial ridge region of Ryugu10. We assume that these samples represent the surface materials of Ryugu at the uppermost centimetre-scale layer, and that this layer is influenced by insolation, radiation, temperature cycling and micrometeoritic impacts. From Chamber C, 2.025 ± 0.003 g of samples was recovered, collected during the second touch-down sampling (TD2) at a site10 proximal to the artificial crater excavated by the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI)6,19. We assume that some of the samples in Chamber C represent subsurface materials excavated by the impact experiments, and that these samples have not experienced long-term exposure to space.
The size–frequency distributions for particles larger than 1 mm hand-picked from the bulk samples of chambers A and C were reconstructed from individual particle measurements (Fig. 1). The sample size distribution has a slope of −3.88 ± 0.25 in the power-index. This power index of Chamber A + C particles is steeper than the global average index (−2.65 ± 0.05) obtained for boulders (5–140 m in size) on Ryugu or the power-index (approximately −2) for gravels (0.02 m to several metres in size) at the local touch-down sites11 observed by the telescopic Optical Navigation Camera (ONC-T)20. The steeper power-index in the returned particles implies a higher relative abundance of the smaller particles but there are several possible interpretations for the steep power-index arise, including: the fragile nature of samples from Ryugu that may have undergone further fragmentations during impact sampling using a bullet and the cone-shaped collector21, the shock and vibration experienced during Earth entry in the sample container mounted inside the re-entry capsule22, possible artificial fractionation effects from the better transference of smaller particles through the sampler horn21 and/or a sampling bias caused by hand-picking of particles with vacuum tweezers by several personnel (as mentioned in the Methods). The power-index of Chamber A particles, −4.59 ± 0.44, is steeper than those of Chamber C, −3.15 ± 0.20, which shows a much shallower power-index in the size range larger than 3 mm. This larger size enrichment in Chamber C could indicate that such larger particles might have been excavated from regolith below Ryugu's surface by the SCI close to site TD210,19.
Fig. 1: Size distributions of Ryugu particles from chambers A and C.
A dashed red and blue line is a fitting line to the size distribution of Ryugu particles in the chamber A and C, respectively, and a solid black line is a fitting line to the size distribution of those in chambers A and C. The power-index of those in the chambers A and C (shown as Chamber A + C) is −3.88, which is much steeper than of the global average of Ryugu boulders of >5 m, −2.65 (ref. 11). This might indicate that further fragmentation occurred for smaller Ryugu grains before and/or after their recovery.
Source data
From the micrographs of Ryugu particles and their weights measured using a balance, the bulk densities of Ryugu particles could be estimated on the basis of assumptions mentioned in the Methods. The average bulk density of Ryugu particles in both chambers A and C is 1,282 ± 231 kg m−3 (Fig. 2). This is lower than the average bulk density of CI chondrites23 of 2,110 kg m−3, that of the Tagish Lake meteorite24 (1,660 ± 80 kg m−3, the most porous meteorites ever found on Earth). Assuming that millimetre-sized sample grains have the same grain density as CI chondrites (Orgueil; 2,380 ± 80 kg m−3)23, we estimate the microporosity of Ryugu samples to be 46%. Our value is consistent with the porosity determined by remote thermal imaging by the Thermal Infrared Imager (TIR)25 and on-site thermal measurements9 with the radiometer (MARA) on the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT)26; this value is lower than that of meteorites, suggesting that thermal measurements made remotely at the centimetre scale can be confirmed by laboratory sample measurements made at the millimetre scale. Thus the microscopic observations and weight measurements for the Ryugu samples imply low density and/or high microporosity. The calculated bulk density of the Ryugu samples is comparable to that of Ryugu rock estimated from the bulk density of Ryugu and linear mixture packing theory: 1,380 ± 70 kg m−3 within the range of variation27.
Fig. 2: Distributions of the bulk densities of Ryugu particles from chambers A and C.
The average sample bulk density (1,282 ± 231 kg m−3) is slightly larger than that of Ryugu (1,190 kg m−3, vertical dashed purple line)2 but much smaller than those of the Tagish Lake meteorite (vertical dashed green line)24 and CI chondrites (vertical dashed orange line)23, indicating the porous nature of Ryugu samples compared with known primitive chondrites.
Such high-microporosity materials have not been discovered in any meteorites found on Earth, probably due to break-up owing to their fragile nature during entry into the Earth's atmosphere or a higher abundance of lower-density components such as carbonaceous materials (1,300–1,400 kg m−3)28 compared with other carbonaceous chondrites (CCs). The global average density (bulk density) of Ryugu is 1,190 ± 20 kg m−3, indicating a macroporosity of 7%, which is inconsistent with the large macroporosities required for primitive asteroids when typical meteoritic density is assumed23, provided that the returned samples collected from the two sampling sites on the surface of Ryugu are representative of bulk materials on Ryugu. The low macroporosity of Ryugu is probably consistent with the packing model using the size–frequency distribution of Ryugu29. No substantial difference in density distribution was found between chambers A and C, consistent with the same thermal properties inside and outside the artificial crater30. There are particles denser than 1,800 kg m−3 (>2σ) in Chamber A, which is within the density range of typical meteorites found on Earth12 and indicates that Ryugu might consist of a mixture of particles from different origins30 or varying degrees of alteration in the parent bodies5,30.
Optical and near-infrared reflectance profiles of the samples measured using optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and the infrared hyperspectral microscope (MicrOmega)31,32 show very dark features with an albedo of ~0.02 from 0.4 µm to 4 µm (Figs. 3 and 4), which is in good agreement with the global average of albedo3,4 observed by ONC-T and the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3)33. The surface compositions and inclusions of each sample show some variety but most of them are considered representative of the typical surface materials of Ryugu as they have spectroscopically homogeneous and featureless characteristics without apparent high-temperature components (such as chondrules or Ca–Al-rich inclusions (CAI)), but have many bright and patchy fine inclusions (Extended Data Fig. 2). Although full photometric measurements are needed to elucidate the optical properties of the Ryugu samples, the apparent rarity of chondrules in Ryugu samples is consistent with predictions by a previous study27. The surface morphology of the samples is mainly classified into two patterns of rugged and smooth surfaces even at the millimetre to submillimetre scale, which is similar to the patterns found for centimetre- to metre-scale surfaces3,8 observed by ONC-T and the imager on MASCOT (MasCAM)34. The presence of different types of surface morphology may indicate past mixing processes of materials of different origin or different degrees of alteration5,7,30. The shape distribution of the particles, which has been studied in a separate paper (Tachibana, S. et al., manuscript in preparation), shows variations in aspect ratios, including elongated and flattened particles that are consistent with the ejecta observed during the sampling operations (Tachibana, S. et al., manuscript in preparation).
Fig. 3: Infrared reflectance spectra of Ryugu bulk samples from chambers A and C.
a, Spectra are normalized to each of continua between 2.0 µm to 4.0 µm. Both spectra show features at 2.72 µm (a vertical dashed black line in the left), corresponding to hydroxyl (OH) absorption, and 3.4 µm (a vertical dashed black line in the right), corresponding to organic molecule or carbonate adsorption. A faint absorption at 3.1 µm (a vertical dashed black line in the centre) is also confirmed in spectra of bulk samples analysed by MicrOmega, indicating the presence of a nitrogen-rich phase32. b, The same raw spectra are compared with remote-sensing data for Ryugu taken by NIRS3 with its error bars 4. The absorption feature at 2.72 µm (a vertical dashed green line) observed with NIRS3 is confirmed by the Ryugu samples. The continuum of Ryugu samples is reddenned compared with that of NIRS3, which might reflect the space weathering effect being clearer in the samples than remote-sensing data.
Fig. 4: Comparison of visible spectroscopic data for chambers A and C with that of ONC-T for Ryugu and other CCs.
The red lines represent typical types of CC from RELAB data51 and the blue lines are unusual types of CC from RELAB and Sugita et al.3. Note that the data for each of the CCs are from powder samples within sizes ranging from <63 µm to <155 µm. Ryugu particles obtained from chambers A and C show an albedo of ~0.02 (reflectance factor at 30°, 0°, 30°), which is comparable to remote-sensing data of Ryugu's surface taken by ONC-T3,39. Globally, Ryugu is confirmed to be much darker than most meteorites.
To conduct reconnaissance sample analyses during this curation phase, non-destructive and non-invasive characterization of the composition was performed by near-infrared spectroscopy through the two complementary instruments. Both FTIR and MicrOmega analyses for bulk samples from chambers A and C show spectral profiles. The FTIR can obtain reflectance spectrum from of 1 to 4 µm wavelength range with a footprint of ~6 mm diameter (Fig. 3), and the MicrOmega can analyze hyperspectral image-cubes of 256 × 256 pixels (22 µm pixel size), with up to 400 spectral channels covering the 0.99–3.65 µm spectral range. Both exhibit clear absorption features at 2.7 µm and 3.4 µm, for both samples. The narrow and relatively deep (~15%) absorption feature at 2.72 µm indicates the presence of hydroxyl (OH) in the samples, which is comparable to the 2.72 µm absorption feature detected across the surface of Ryugu by NIRS34 but the position of the absorption peak is in better agreement with the materials excavated by the SCI impact experiment35. MicrOmega high spatial resolution enabled us to identify a few submillimetre grains with distinct and highly diagnostic spectral features. As an example, an absorption centred at 3.4 µm, also present in FTIR spectra, corresponds to both carbonates and CH-rich phases. Similarly, an absorption centred at 3.1 µm is interpreted as relating to NH-rich compounds as it has been postulated to be similar to that observed on 1 Ceres36. These detections are evidence of aqueous alteration of Ryugu's parent body and consistent with the non-detection of high-temperature components like chondrules and CAIs. They point towards the Ryugu parent body being more similar to CI chondrites than to any other type of meteorite found on Earth (Table 1). Details of the MicrOmega findings are presented in a companion paper32.
Table 1 Ryugu samples compared with meteorites
High-resolution (5 µm per pixel) optical microscopic imaging through six filters, compatible with the ONC-T camera of Hayabusa23,737, was conducted on bulk samples from chambers A and C (Fig. 4). The disk-averaged spectra and reflectance of Earth-returned samples from 0.39 to 0.85 µm (ul to x bands on ONC-T) agree well with those of Ryugu3; very flat spectra consistent with Cb-type asteroids classified by ground-based observations38 and low reflectance (0.02 at the v band) under the geometric condition with incidence, emission and phase angles of 30°, 0° and 30°, respectively. This agreement indicates that Earth-returned samples represent the Ryugu surface materials well. The visible and infrared reflectance of the samples from chambers A and C are both brighter than those of remote-sensing data taken by ONC-T3,39 and NIRS34,35 beyond their observation and analytical errors (Figs. 3 and 4). This may be due to differences in surface conditions of regolith particles between the asteroid surface, on which they might be covered by fine powdery materials, and obtained samples, which might expose their surfaces when they experienced disturbances during the sampling process, and/or the possible contribution of reflected light from the bottom surface of the sapphire dishes. The infrared reflectance of the bulk samples from Chamber A is brighter than that of the samples from Chamber C in data acquired by both FTIR and MicrOmega, although some variations in wavelength exist in the MicrOmega results32. This tendency is inconsistent with results from the NIRS3 observation, which shows deeper absorption in 2.72 µm close to site TD2 site compared with other surface materials on Ryugu35. Although optical and infrared microscopic images show that Ryugu sample particles exhibit many bright spots (Extended Data Fig. 2), most bright spots disappear in different viewing geometries and so are not intrinsic to compositional variation (for example, CAIs and chondrules) but caused by different photometric conditions32. Many bright spots are found on the surfaces of boulders in the on-asteroid images8, but most may be caused by photometric effects.
Our initial observations in the laboratory for the entire set of returned samples demonstrate that Hayabusa2 retrieved a representative and unprocessed (albeit slightly fragmented) sample from Ryugu. Our data further extends an idea based on the remote-sensing observations that suggested that Ryugu is dominated by hydrous CC-like materials, similar to CI chondrites, but with a darker, more porous and more fragile nature. This inference should be further corroborated by in-depth investigations hereafter by state-of-the-art analytical methods with higher resolution and precision. The initial descriptions by Hayabusa2 provide a good signpost for future sample returns missions and their curation.
Hayabusa2 sample recovery and transportation to the ESCuC
On 5 December 2020, the re-entry capsule was released from the spacecraft and it entered the Earth's atmosphere on 6 December 2020, after a successful return cruise from Ryugu to the Earth. The re-entry capsule retrieval operation was carried out under strict compliance with Australian COVID-19 regulations. The landing area of the capsule was determined from a beacon signal transmitted by the capsule using five antennas installed at different locations. The Marine radar systems and two drones were also used for this operation to retrieve the capsule, heat shields and parachute. The re-entry capsule was located near the parachute, which was found by helicopter observation. A safety check of the capsule was first completed at the landing location because pyrotechnic devices were used for parachute deployment and separation. No damage to the capsule was observed, and the capsule was transported back to a quick look facility prepared in the Woomera Prohibited Area with permission from the Australian safety officer. The re-entry capsule was recovered from the landing site in the Woomera Prohibited Area, South Australia, 5 h after landing, and transported to the quick look facility. The capsule was placed in a clean booth in the quick look facility; the sample container was then extracted from the capsule and its outer surface cleaned after a safety check (see also Extended Data Fig. 1). The temperature monitor attached to the sample container indicated that the container was never heated up to 65 °C, which is much lower than the outgassing temperature of water, ~100 °C.
The container was installed on the Hayabusa2 GAs Extraction and Analysis system. After overnight evacuation of the vacuum line of the GAs Extraction and Analysis system, on 7 December the bottom of the sample was pierced with a tungsten carbide needle to release volatile components of the sample held inside the container22. The container was in a vacuum, indicating that the container seal held during re-entry and no terrestrial contamination took place. The gas extracted from the sample container was split into four gas tanks at room temperature, and the residual gas in the system was then trapped in two gas tanks cooled at the temperature of liquid nitrogen. A fraction of the gas was analysed by a quadrupole mass spectrometer (WATMASS, Tokyo Electronics). The sample container was put into a nitrogen-purged antivibration transportation box and was safely transported to the ESCuC in the Sagamihara Campus of JAXA on 8 December 2020 (~57 h after the capsule landed). A heat shield made of carbon-reinforced plastic was then removed from the outer lid of the container after drilling work with a milling machine to expose the heads of the bolts and remove them. The Hayabusa2 sample container was sealed with a metal-to-metal sealing system21,22. The container lid was pressed against the container edge with a pressure load of ~2,700 N by pressure springs. To open the container in the clean chamber designed for Ryugu samples in a vacuum, the container was installed into the container opening system. The pressure springs and the outer lid with latches were then removed from the container while the pressure load was kept constant. The container with the opening system was then attached to the clean chamber, which was designed to keep the Ryugu samples in a vacuum, on 11 December (132 h after it landed) and was opened on 14 December 2020 after the chamber was evacuated.
As the outer surface of the container had been cleaned, the outer lid was first anchored to access the inner lid, then the inner lid was anchored with rods to remove the outer lid and the frame for the latches. Finally, the inner lid was anchored by the container opening system (Extended Data Fig. 1).
The clean room and clean chambers for Hayabusa2
The concept of Hayabusa2 curation was to initially make non-destructive measurements and to deliver samples for further detailed investigations without any contamination from terrestrial materials or exposure to the terrestrial atmosphere. The ESCuC was therefore equipped to the ISO 6 or Class 1000 clean room protocol (1,000 dust particles of ≥0.5 µm in diameter in cubic feet)40. The clean chambers for Hayabusa2-returned samples were prepared to handle samples under a vacuum or ultra-purified nitrogen atmosphere without exposure to the terrestrial atmosphere41. They comprise five independent chambers: CC3-1 for opening the container in a vacuum, CC3-2 for opening Chamber A of the catcher and removing a few particles in a vacuum, CC3-3 for exchanging the environment from a vacuum to purified nitrogen, CC4-1 for dismantling the catcher to extract the samples from each chamber, and CC4-2 for observation and weighing of the samples. All of the sample containers, pick-up devices, handling tools and other jigs and tools used in the clean chambers were specially cleaned to avoid contamination and were made from materials that were highly controlled to minimize the possibility of chemical reactions with the samples42.
Retrieval of Hayabusa2 samples from the container
As the sample container opening system was connected to CC3-1 with dry air overflowing from the chamber, the chamber was evacuated to reach a high vacuum (10−6 Pa). The chamber was then in a static vacuum condition for the inner lid of the container to be opened. Soon after the container was opened, the chamber was evacuated again. The sample catcher (which is combined with the inner lid) was extracted from the container and the bottom of the container was left behind. The catcher was then turned upside down so the cover of Chamber A of the catcher faced upwards and it was transported from CC3-1 to CC3-2; a gate valve between them was then closed. In CC3-2 in vacuum conditions, the surface of the cover of the Chamber A was cleaned with a Teflon spatula. All of the screw bolts of the cover were then unscrewed and the cover was removed with an electrostatic chuck to expose the samples inside Chamber A of the catcher. A large numbers of black particles of millimetre size or larger were observed inside Chamber A.
A few particles of millimetre size were removed from the chamber with a sample handling tool equipped inside the CC3-2 and put into a quartz glass dish. A cover made of quartz glass was attached to the opening of Chamber A of the catcher; the catcher was then transported from CC3-2 to CC3-3 and the gate valve between them was closed. CC3-1 and CC3-2 continued to evacuate after that. CC3-3 was slowly purged with purified nitrogen to reach atmospheric pressure. After that, the catcher was handled with tools and jigs manipulated with Viton-coated butyl gloves equipped in the CC3-3, CC4-1 and CC4-2. First, a jig for handling was attached to the catcher and the screw bolts that connected the catcher with the inner lid were removed to separate the catcher from the lid.
The catcher was next transported to CC4-2 through CC4-1 to measure its weight with a balance equipped in the CC4-2. Given the design weight of the catcher and a tare weight of the attached jig, the total weight of samples inside the catcher was calculated to be 5.424 ± 0.217 g. The balance was a Mettler-Toledo XP404s, with an outer cover modified to one made of stainless steel 304 sealed with Viton, and with the power and signal cables modified from the originals to ones coated by Teflon.
An optical microscope Nikon SMZ1270i with an XYZ electric motors system was equipped above the CC4-2, and black particles inside Chamber A of the catcher were photographed with the microscope. The catcher was then transported to CC4-1 and it was dismantled with tools and jigs to transfer samples from each of the chambers (A, B and C) to containers made of sapphire glass (see supplement for its spectral feature) set underneath funnels made of stainless steel 304. After several large particles were hand-picked directly from the opening of the funnels with a vacuum tweezer, samples from chambers A and C were divided from the funnels into three sapphire containers with a spatula made of stainless steel. Samples inside Chamber B, which was exposed to the sampler horn after site TD1 and before site TD210, were also recovered into a sapphire container and comprise only a small amount of powder (13 ± 0.5 mg). Only a limited number of samples enters into the chamber B, indicating that only a small amount of the samples should be mixed up between three chambers. The samples in the sapphire containers were weighed with a balance and spectrally characterized with FTIR, MicrOmega and visible spectrometers. Next, particles of >1 mm in size were individually hand-picked with a vacuum tweezer that had a nozzle made of stainless steel 304 and deposited into a sapphire dish; individual particles were then photographed, weighed and measured with FTIR and MicrOmega.
These obtained data are catalogued for further detailed research that started in the summer of 2021. The sample will be made available to the community and distributed through the Hayabusa2 Sample Allocation Committee in the summer of 2022.
Outline of measurements for sample description
Multiband optical images of the Ryugu samples were taken using a nadir-viewing camera system with a macro lens and a monochrome CMOS detector (Kiralux CS895MU) with illumination at 30° from the nadir43. We used six filters (ul: 0.39 µm, b: 0.48 µm, v− 0.55 µm, Na: 0.59 µm, w− 0.70 µm, x: 0.85 µm) compatible with ONC-T of Hayabusa23,20,21 to illuminate the samples for macro-lens measurements.
Spectroscopy of Ryugu samples
The FTIR used for this study was a JASCO VIR-300, equipped to CC4-2. It can measure in the infrared spectrum between 1.0 µm and 4.0 µm wavelengths. Its minimum beam spot size in the focused position is 1 mm, and a nominal beam spot for bulk sample measurement size is 6 mm. The incident beam comes through a sapphire viewport to illuminate samples inside an FTIR chamber attached to CC4-2 (with a purified nitrogen condition). Before and after the sample measurement, the incident and emission angles of the infrared light were designed to be 16°, thus phase angle for the samples is 32°. The NIRS3 spectrum was created by averaging 128 spectra acquired on 15 May 2019 (see extended data table 2 of Kitazato et al.35 for details). Its reflectance values have been corrected to the same viewing geometry (incidence,16°; emission, 16°, phase, 32°) using the latest photometric model44. Error bars are 1σ. The instrument, which includes incident and reflected light paths, was purged with nitrogen to decrease the influences of absorption of atmospheric molecules such as H2O and CO2. Infragold was measured before sample measurement to compensate for the background. No obvious effect from the sapphire containers was detected in the bulk sample analyses.
The detailed method for MicrOmega analyses is detailed in another paper32. MicrOmega was mounted on a dedicated chamber attached to CC3-3. The samples are analysed on an XYZ and θ moving stage under the nitrogen-purged conditions, and observed with MicrOmega through the sapphire window.
Size distribution and density determination of Ryugu particles
The sizes of Ryugu particles were measured from optical microscope images taken after their separation into individual containers. Note that particles were separated using tweezers by various curatorial members of the ESCuC, which may have caused a sampling bias. For the analyses of their size distributions, the major and minor diameters were calculated on the basis of eclipses circumscribed from the binarized images of particles, and averages of the major and minor diameters were used as the sizes of the particles. A cumulative number of particles versus their average diameters are plotted as Fig. 1, and a power-index fitting to the distribution was calculated by maximum-likelihood fitting methods with goodness-of-fit tests based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic45,46.
The volume of a given hand-picked particle, its size, Dp, was calculated as follows:
$$D_{\mathrm{p}} = \root {3} \of {{a b t}},$$
where a and b are the major and minor Fetet diameters, respectively, measured from its optical microscopic image and t is thickness, measured by focusing on the top and bottom of the particle using the optical microscope. Using Dp calculated from equation (1), the volume of a Ryugu particle was calculated using the following formula based on ref. 47:
$$V_{\mathrm{p}} = \frac{\uppi }{6}\left( {0.928 \times D_{\mathrm{p}}} \right)^3.$$
The densities of the particles were calculated from the volumes obtained with the formula and weights measured with the balance in CC4-2 (Fig. 2). Typical errors in the density calculations range from 30 to 500 kg m−3, mainly due to uncertainties in the estimation of their volumes. The estimated volumes should include all of the pores inside sample particles; thus the calculated densities correspond to bulk densities of the particles, not grain densities, which are calculated on the basis of volumes excluding pores inside the particles.
Here we note that all source data for the figures in this article is provided in the Supplement Items. Source data are provided with this paper.
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The Hayabusa2 mission has been led by JAXA, in collaboration with DLR (German Space Center) and CNES (French Space Center), and was also supported by NASA, the ASA (Australian Space Agency) and other universities and institutes. We thank all of the members of the Hayabusa2 project team for their technical and scientific contributions to the successful return of the asteroid samples to Earth. This research is partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) under KAKENHI grant numbers JP17H06459, JP18K03830, JP19K03958, JP19K23473, JP20K14548, JP19K23474, JP21K13986, JP20K14535, JP19H00725, JP19KK0094, JP20H00202, JP18K18795, JP18H04468, JP15H05695, JP16H06348 and JP19H01951, the Core-to-Core programme 'International Network of Planetary Sciences' and the Australian Research Council (grant number DP210101798). The activities of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale are supported by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, France.
Miwa Yoshitake
Present address: Japan Patent Office, Tokyo, Japan
Ayako Iwamae
Present address: Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan
Toru Yada, Masanao Abe, Tatsuaki Okada, Aiko Nakato, Kasumi Yogata, Akiko Miyazaki, Kentaro Hatakeda, Kazuya Kumagai, Masahiro Nishimura, Yuya Hitomi, Hiromichi Soejima, Miwa Yoshitake, Ayako Iwamae, Shizuho Furuya, Masayuki Uesugi, Yuzuru Karouji, Tomohiro Usui, Tasuku Hayashi, Daiki Yamamoto, Ryota Fukai, Lucie Riu, Shogo Tachibana, Hirotaka Sawada, Kanako Sakamoto, Hajime Yano, Tetsuya Yamada, Masaki Fujimoto, Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Hiroshi Kikuchi, Rina Noguchi, Yuri Shimaki, Kei Shirai, Yukio Yamamoto, Yasuhiro Yokota, Moe Matsuoka, Akira Miura, Atsushi Fujii, Satoshi Hosoda, Takahiro Iwata, Shota Kikuchi, Yuya Mimasu, Osamu Mori, Naoko Ogawa, Takanobu Shimada, Stefania Soldini, Tadateru Takahashi, Yuto Takei, Hiroshi Takeuchi, Ryudo Tsukizaki, Fuyuto Terui, Satoru Nakazawa, Satoshi Tanaka, Takanao Saiki, Makoto Yoshikawa & Yuichi Tsuda
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Hayama, Japan
Masanao Abe, Takahiro Iwata, Satoshi Tanaka, Makoto Yoshikawa & Yuichi Tsuda
Tatsuaki Okada, Shizuho Furuya, Seiji Sugita, Yuichiro Cho, Koki Yumoto, Yuna Yabe, Shogo Tachibana, Yayoi N. Miura & Eri Tatsumi
Marine Works Japan, Ltd, Yokosuka, Japan
Kentaro Hatakeda, Kazuya Kumagai, Yuya Hitomi, Hiromichi Soejima & Ayako Iwamae
Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Hyogo, Japan
Masayuki Uesugi & Kentaro Uesugi
JAXA Space Exploration Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan
Yuzuru Karouji, Yoshiaki Ishihara, Kazunori Ogawa, Naoko Ogawa & Takanobu Shimada
Chiba Institute of Technology, Narashino, Japan
Seiji Sugita, Koji Wada, Hiroki Senshu, Manabu Yamada & Shota Kikuchi
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Orsay, France
Jean-Pierre Bibring, Cedric Pilorget, Vincent Hamm, Rosario Brunetto, Lucie Riu, Lionel Lourit, Damien Loizeau & Guillaume Lequertier
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Toulouse, France
Aurelie Moussi-Soffys
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Ryuji Okazaki & Hiroshi Naraoka
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kanagawa, Japan
Yoshinori Takano
The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
Trevor R. Ireland
The University of Aizu, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan
Kohei Kitazato, Naru Hirata & Chikatoshi Honda
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Japan
Noriyuki Namiki, Koji Matsumoto & Hirotomo Noda
Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
Masahiko Arakawa, Naoyuki Hirata & Kei Shirai
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Hisayoshi Yurimoto
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Tomoki Nakamura
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Takaaki Noguchi
Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
Hikaru Yabuta
Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, JAMSTEC, Nankoku, Kochi, Japan
Motoo Ito
Institute for Planetary Materials, Okayama University, Misasa, Japan
Eizo Nakamura & Katsura Kobayashi
Kindai University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
Tatsuhiro Michikami
Niigata University, Niigata, Japan
Rina Noguchi
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Tomokatsu Morota & Sei-ichiro Watanabe
Kochi University, Kochi, Japan
Rie Honda
Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Moe Matsuoka
Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
Naoya Sakatani
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Eri Tatsumi
Space Engineering Development Co., Ltd, Sagamihara, Japan
Atsushi Fujii
Research and Development Directorate, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan
Chikako Hirose, Hitoshi Ikeda, Go Ono & Kent Yoshikawa
Stefania Soldini
NEC Corporation, Fuchu, Japan
Tadateru Takahashi
Kanagawa Institute of Technology, Atsugi, Japan
Fuyuto Terui
University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan
Toru Yada
Masanao Abe
Tatsuaki Okada
Aiko Nakato
Kasumi Yogata
Akiko Miyazaki
Kentaro Hatakeda
Kazuya Kumagai
Masahiro Nishimura
Yuya Hitomi
Hiromichi Soejima
Shizuho Furuya
Masayuki Uesugi
Yuzuru Karouji
Tomohiro Usui
Tasuku Hayashi
Daiki Yamamoto
Ryota Fukai
Seiji Sugita
Yuichiro Cho
Koki Yumoto
Yuna Yabe
Jean-Pierre Bibring
Cedric Pilorget
Vincent Hamm
Rosario Brunetto
Lucie Riu
Lionel Lourit
Damien Loizeau
Guillaume Lequertier
Shogo Tachibana
Hirotaka Sawada
Ryuji Okazaki
Kanako Sakamoto
Yayoi N. Miura
Hajime Yano
Tetsuya Yamada
Masaki Fujimoto
Kohei Kitazato
Noriyuki Namiki
Masahiko Arakawa
Naru Hirata
Hiroshi Naraoka
Eizo Nakamura
Kentaro Uesugi
Katsura Kobayashi
Hiroshi Kikuchi
Naoyuki Hirata
Yoshiaki Ishihara
Koji Matsumoto
Hirotomo Noda
Yuri Shimaki
Kei Shirai
Kazunori Ogawa
Koji Wada
Hiroki Senshu
Yukio Yamamoto
Tomokatsu Morota
Chikatoshi Honda
Yasuhiro Yokota
Akira Miura
Manabu Yamada
Chikako Hirose
Satoshi Hosoda
Hitoshi Ikeda
Takahiro Iwata
Shota Kikuchi
Yuya Mimasu
Osamu Mori
Naoko Ogawa
Go Ono
Takanobu Shimada
Yuto Takei
Hiroshi Takeuchi
Ryudo Tsukizaki
Kent Yoshikawa
Satoru Nakazawa
Takanao Saiki
Makoto Yoshikawa
Sei-ichiro Watanabe
Yuichi Tsuda
T. Yada and M.A. led the initial descriptions of the Hayabusa2-returned samples in the JAXA ESCuC, and T. Yada, T.O and T.U. coordinated co-author contributions and led the data analyses and interpretations. T. Yada, K. Yogata, M.N., A.N., A.M., K. Kumagai, K.H., Y.H., M.S., M. Yoshitake, S.F., A.I.S., D.Y., T.H., R.F., T.O., M.A., T.U., K.U., M.U., Y.K. and K. Kobayashi curated samples and contributed to planning. S. Tachibana, H. Sawada, R.O., Y.T., K. Sakamoto, Y.N.M., H. Yano, T.R.I., T. Yamada and M.F. contributed to sampling and sample recovery. T. Yada, A.N., A.M., K. Yogata, K.H., K. Kumagai, M.N., Y.H., M.Y., A.I.S., S.F. and M.A. performed the microscopy, size and weight measurements, and their data reductions. M.A., K.H., A.M., A.N., K. Yogata, T. Yada, K. Kumagai., M.N., Y.H. and K. Kitazato performed the FTIR data acquisitions and reductions. J.P.B., C.P., V.H., R.B., D.L., G.L., L.L., L.R., T.O., T. Yada, K. Yogata, A.N., A.M., K.H., K. Kumagai, M.N., Y.H., A.M.S. and M.F. conducted the MicrOmega data acquisitions and reductions. S. Sugita, Y.C., K. Yumoto, Y. Yabe, A.M., M.A., T. Yada, A.N., K.H., K. Yogata, K.K., M.N. and Y.H. acquired the multiband microscopy data and performed reductions. S. Tanaka, T.O., S.Sugita, N.N., K.Kitazato, H. Yabuta, T. Nakamura, Y.I., Naru Hirata, Naoyuki Hirata, K.M., T. Michikami, H.Noda, R.N., Y.S., K. Shirai, K.O., K.W., H. Senshu, Y. Yamamoto, T. Morota, R.H., Y. Yokota, C. Honda, M.M., N.S., E.T., A. Miura, M. Yamada, M.A., T.I., H. Yano, A.F., C.Hirose, S.H., H.I., S.K., Y.M., O.M., N.O., G.O., H.Sawada, T.Shimada, S.Soldini, T.T., Y.Takei, H.T., R.T., K. Yoshikawa, F.T., T. Saiki, S.N., M.Y., S.W. and Y. Tsuda contributed to science operations of the spacecraft and selected sampling sites. Y. Tsuda, S.W., M. Yoshikawa, T. Saiki, S. Tanaka, F.T., S.N., S. Sugita, N.N., K. Kitazato, T.O., S. Tachibana, Naru Hirata, H. Yurimoto, T. Nakamura, T. Noguchi, H.Yabuta, H.N., M.I. and E.N. administered the project and acted as principal investigators. T. Yada, T.O., T.U., S. Sugita, Y.C., K.Yumoto, S.W., S. Tachibana, J.P.B., R.B., K. Kitazato, T. Michikam and H.K. contributed to the interpretation and writing. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
Correspondence to Toru Yada.
Peer review information Nature Astronomy thanks Beth Clark and Hannah Kaplan for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Extended data
Extended Data Fig. 1 A flowchart of a series of processes for the Hayabusa2 sample container and its catcher experienced after its landing.
A flowchart of a series of processes for the Hayabusa2 sample container and its catcher experienced after its landing. Note that samples inside the container were only exposed to vacuum and nitrogen environment in the clean chambers for Haybusa2-returned samples.
Extended Data Fig. 2 Optical microscopic images of bulk samples from Chambers A and C.
Optical microscopic images of bulk samples from Chambers A and C. (a)~(c) are those from the Chamber A and (d)~(f) are those from the Chamber C. Both samples are aggregation of black-colored mm-sized pebbles and sub-mm sized fine powder, which are not so different from each other. In total, more than five thousands particles of >100 µm2 are recognized from the images.
Supplementary Fig. 1 and Materials.
Source Data Fig. 1
Source numerical data for viewgraph of figure 1.
Source Data Fig. 3a
Source numerical data for viewgraph of figure 3a.
Source Data Fig. 3b
Source numerical data for viewgraph of figure 3b.
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
Opening the Ryugu sample capsule
Beth Ellen Clark
Nature Astronomy (2021)
First compositional analysis of Ryugu samples by the MicrOmega hyperspectral microscope
C. Pilorget
T. Okada
J.-P. Bibring
Bringing home a piece of our past
Elizabeth Tasker
Mission Control 01 Jun 2018
Laboratory perspectives on sample returns from Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx
Cateline Lantz
Comment 05 Apr 2019
Arrival, touchdown and sequel to the voyage of Hayabusa2
Letter 20 Dec 2021
Sample return reveals that the asteroid Ryugu is a carbon-rich primitive body
Research Briefing 06 Jan 2022
Nature Astronomy (Nat Astron) ISSN 2397-3366 (online)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
by admin | Jun 16, 2017 | Articles
Steve Lubetkin – Globest.com MIDDLETOWN, NJ- National Realty is developing The Shoppes at Middletown retail center, anchored by a Wegman's store, but designed as a destination location, according to John Orrico, president of National Realty, who spoke exclusively with GlobeSt.com. A 340,000 square foot experiential retail destination is being planned for a former grocery store site in this Monmouth County community that is famous for its iconic "Calico the Clown" sign marking Food Circus, a once-popular grocery store. National Realty & Development's Village 35 entity is developing The Shoppes at Middletown retail center, anchored by a Wegman's store, but designed as a destination location with substantial green space, walkways, common areas, and an array of dining experiences, according to John Orrico, president of National Realty, who spoke exclusively with GlobeSt.com. "We have a commitment from Wegman's for a 130,000 square-foot store, and a commitment from CMX Cinem a for a 26,000 square-foot store, and we are in the process of going through the entitlements for that project," Orrico says. NJDEP has already approved the project, and NJDOT has given concept plan approvals, and actual plans are being finished for NJDOT. Full approvals from NJDOT for the realignment of jughandles and roadways are expected in the next two months or so, he says. "Usually, you're not that far ahead on those two components when you're at this stage of the entitlement process," Orrico says. The location is part of a 170-acre tract assembled by Monmouth County's Azzolina family. National Realty has acquired the front 50 acres of the property for the retail center, and a home developer is planning housing...