The discovery comes a week after the Hayabusa-2 probe fell out of its shell, entered the atmosphere with a trail of light before landing in the Australian desert and then shipped back to Japan.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has released for the first time a photo of a small amount of material inside a metal box. Here’s a first look at the results of an unprecedented mission in the past six years.

The dust was found in the outer capsule of the capsule, with more important samples expected to be found when they opened the container, authorities said. This is a very complex task.

"JAXA has confirmed that the samples originated from the asteroid Ryugu inside the sample container. We have been able to confirm the black, sand-like particles are believed to have originated from the asteroid Ryugu" , the source said.

Hayabusa-2 has traveled about 300 million km from Earth to collect specimens. Scientists hope it can help find a solution about the origin of life and the formation of the universe.

The probe collects both surface dust and protozoa from below the disturbed surface by firing an impact force at the asteroid.

"We will continue our work to open the sampler inside the sample container. Sample extraction and sample analysis will be performed," JAXA said.

Half of the Hayabusa-2 samples will be shared between JAXA and NASA and other international organizations. The remainder is retained for future research when advances in analytical technology are made.