The Micro-Particles Capturer and Space-Environment Exposure Device (MPAC&SEED); payloads developed by JAXA, which were installed on the exposed portion of Zvezda (a part of the Russian segment) of the International Space Station (ISS), has been found to have captured a new extraterrestrial material with unprecedented mineralogical characteristics. The material has been named "Hoshi."*1
Finding a material with unprecedented structure and mineralogical composition having genetic relation with the interplanetary dust particles*2 and micrometeorites*3 is the world's first discovery.
The finding suggests that the other unknown primordial extraterrestrial materials exist; and it will help us to elucidate what happened during the early stage after the birth of the solar system.
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