日本官员表示，他们对航天器收集并送回地球的小行星材料的质量感到满意。
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.
上周，日本航天局官员介绍了这些样品，它是于2019年7月从龙宫小行星上收集到的。龙宫距离地球超过3亿公里。
Japan's unpiloted Hayabusa2 spacecraft removed the material after blasting a hole into the asteroid.
日本无人驾驶的隼鸟二号航天器在把这个小行星炸出一个洞之后取到了这些物质。
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.
日本航天局表示，2019年7月的任务旨在从龙宫表面以下收集样本。在2019年2月一次更早的行动中，隼鸟二号从这颗小行星的另一个地方收集了物质。
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.
日本航天局官员表示，第二次收集工作带来了大到1厘米的样本块。他们还说，这些黑色材料看上去跟木炭类似，并且非常坚硬。当把它拿起来或者倒入另一个容器中时，它没有裂开。
Earlier this month, space officials described the samples Hayabusa2 removed on its first mission as smaller, sandy pieces. They were collected from the surface of Ryugu.
本月初，日本航天局官员介绍称隼鸟二号第一次执行任务时取到的样本是较小的沙粒。它们是从龙宫表面收集到的。
Hayabusa2 was launched in December 2014 and arrived near Ryugu in June 2018. The Japanese space mission aims to use the samples to learn more about how our solar system formed.
隼鸟二号于2014年12月发射，并于2018年6月到达龙宫附近。这次日本太空任务旨在利用这些样本进一步了解太阳系是如何形成的。
JAXA's Tomohiro Usui is a space materials scientist. He told The Associated Press that to get the second set of samples in July, Hayabusa2 used an impactor to blast below the asteroid's surface. The aim was to collect material unaffected by space radiation or other environmental conditions.
日本航天局的臼井智宏是一名空间材料科学家。他对美联社表示，为了在7月获得第二套样本，隼鸟二号利用撞击器在这颗小行星的表面以下爆炸。目的是收集不受太空辐射或其它环境条件影响的材料。
Usui noted that the size differences suggest different hardness of the bedrock of the asteroid. "One possibility is that the place of the second touchdown was a hard bedrock and larger particles broke and entered the compartment," Usui said.
臼井智宏指出，样本大小差异表明这颗小行星基岩的硬度不同。他说：“可能第二次着陆的地方是一块坚硬的基岩，较大的碎块破裂后进入了舱内。”
JAXA is continuing its examinations of the asteroid samples ahead of fuller studies next year. Following studies in Japan, some of the samples will be shared with the U.S. space agency NASA and other international space agencies for additional research.
日本宇航局在明年进行更全面研究之前继续对小行星样本进行检查。在日本进行研究之后，其中一些样本将与美国航天局以及其它国际航天机构共享，以进行进一步研究。
Asteroids orbit the sun but are much smaller than planets. They are among the oldest objects in the solar system, and may help scientists better understand how Earth developed over time. The asteroid samples can give researchers a rare chance to study these mysterious rocky objects.
小行星围绕太阳公转，但是比行星要小得多。它们是太阳系中最古老的物体之一，可以帮助科学家更好地了解地球如何随着时间的推移而发展。小行星样本可以给研究人员提供难得的机会来研究这些神秘岩石物体。
Hayabusa2 is now on another mission to a smaller asteroid, called 1998KY26. JAXA expects the aircraft to take 11 years to reach that asteroid. Hayabusa2's new mission aims to study possible ways to prevent large meteorites from hitting Earth.
隼鸟二号现在正在执行另一项飞往被命名为1998KY26的小行星的任务。日本航天局官员预计该航天器需要花费11年时间才能抵达那颗小行星。隼鸟二号的新任务旨在研究防止大型陨石撞击地球的可能办法。
The only other nation to successfully collect an asteroid sample is the United States. NASA announced last month that its Osiris-Rex spacecraft had completed the sample operation on the asteroid Bennu. NASA said it was pleased the spacecraft collected more sample material than expected.
美国是唯一的另一个成功收集到小行星样本的国家。美国宇航局上月宣布其Osiris-Rex号航天器已经完成了对小行星Bennu的采样操作。美国宇航局表示，很高兴该航天器收集到了比预期更多的样本材料。
I'm Bryan Lynn.
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