A Japanese space probe said to be carrying dust samples from an asteroid plunged to Earth Sunday midnight as its capsule parachuted to South Australian state's outback within the Woomera Prohibited Area.

The Australian Science Media Center confirmed the landing of the space probe on Monday and said the capsule land just before midnight on Sunday.

The Woomera Prohibited Area is a remote military zone some 485 kilometers of Australia. The probe released the probe which parachuted to the prohibited zone.

Australian scientists have already been dispatched to the area on Monday to retrieve the capsule. It will be locked in an airtight vessel and sent to Japan for further studies.

The capsule is part of the Hayabusa project that was launched in 2003. It landed on the asteroid in 2005 and collected samples of material from the surface of the asteroid.

Scientist hope the study would provide more light on the origin of the solar system as well as its evolution.