The particles found in Hayabusa have now been confirmed to be extra-terrestrial from the asteroid 25143 Itokawa.
Capsule from the Hayabusa probe contained particles from the Itokawa asteroid (Kyodo)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Tuesday it has confirmed that the particles retrieved from the Hayabusa unmanned space probe after its seven-year space trip are from the asteroid Itokawa.
JAXA says the roughly 1,500 particles it analyzed using electron microscopes are totally different from substances found on Earth. The particles measure only about 10 micrometers in diameter.
The Hayabusa probe is the first exploratory spacecraft to land on a celestial body other than the Moon and then return to Earth.
The k2p blog 