Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft will soon move into place for an historic attempt to collect a sample from an asteroid.
During its encounter with asteroid Itokawa, Hayabusa will touch down twice and send a small robot to the surface.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4291258.stm
Ummm... Think the wrong link got in there, Mike...
Ooops !! :oops:
Edited!
Ah! That makes more sense... ;)
Oh dear !! - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4316162.stm
The planned touchdown of a Japanese space probe on a distant asteroid has been aborted at the last minute.
The spacecraft was within a few hundred metres of the giant space rock when the operation was called off.
More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4408662.stm
Came across this link on QUIAG website - Pretty amazing images of a near Earth Asteroid Itokawa taken by a Japanese space probe Hayabusa (& I thought that was a motorbike....) - If only my ToUcam could get this kind of resolution/ results.....
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2005/1102.shtml
Cheers, John.
Oh dear. The trouble continues: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4435576.stm
The images are pretty impressive though.
A Japanese space probe has become the first craft to collect samples from the surface of an asteroid, mission scientists say.
The probe, called Hayabusa - Japanese for falcon - briefly touched down on the Itokawa asteroid and fired a projectile to loosen surface material.
Scientists believe it collected the debris, but will only be sure when the craft returns to Earth in 2007.
For Full story - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4467676.stm
Japan's Hayabusa probe will have to spend the next three years in space while scientists attempt to revive the ailing asteroid-sampler, Reuters reports.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/14/hayabusa_homecoming/
Japanese engineers have devised a plan to combine parts from two partially-failed ion engines to resume the Hayabusa asteroid probe's journey back to Earth.
In a press release Thursday, officials said they will use the neutralizer of Thruster A and the ion source of Thruster B to provide enough power to guide the 950-pound spacecraft home next June.
Hayabusa launched in 2003 with four ion engines. Thruster A was shut down due to instability shortly after launch, while Thruster B was turned off after high voltage in its neutralization system.
Thruster C was manually switched off after signs it might be damaged by high electrical currents, and Thruster D failed two weeks ago due to a voltage spike.
The Nov. 4 glitch left Hayabusa without a propulsion system and put its scheduled return to Earth in serious doubt. But the new plan gives Japanese officials new hope.
More: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/091121-sfn-hayabusa-japanese-hope.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29 (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/091121-sfn-hayabusa-japanese-hope.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29)
A Japanese spacecraft that visited an asteroid in 2005 is returning to Earth this weekend and should put on a brief, but spectacular, light show for fortuitously placed Australians late on Sunday.
The Hayabusa probe was launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on May 9, 2003 and rendezvoused with the Itokawa asteroid on September 12, 2005. [Photos of Japan's asteroid mission.]
Now it is set to land back on Earth, hopefully with asteroid bits in tow.
More (http://www.space.com/spacewatch/asteroid-probe-fireball-skywatching-tips-100611.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+spaceheadlines+(SPACE.com+Headline+Feed))
Even more (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/5-reasons-care-about-asteroids-100611.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+spaceheadlines+(SPACE.com+Headline+Feed))
And another one (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/5-reasons-care-about-asteroids-100611.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+spaceheadlines+(SPACE.com+Headline+Feed))
Another Aussie UFO sighting to be expected then...
A Japanese space capsule returned to Earth and plunged through the atmosphere over the Australian outback Sunday, capping a seven-year space journey that took it to a nearby asteroid in a historic attempt to collect pieces of a billion-year-old space rock.
The capsule, released by Japan's Hayabusa asteroid probe, returned around 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) in the Woomera Prohibited Area of South Australia.
The re-entry capsule, which may contain a precious space rock sample, separated from the rest of the spacecraft about three hours before it plummeted down to Earth.
More: Hayabusa (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/japan-hayabusa-asteroid-probe-landing-100613.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+spaceheadlines+(SPACE.com+Headline+Feed))
Lovely video of the re-entry.
http://www.wimp.com/hayabusamission/ (http://www.wimp.com/hayabusamission/)
Tony G
Lucky the video had subtitles, I wouldn't have known what was going on :o
Anyway, here's a bit more info - More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10307048.stm)
:P :P :P
Of course the best news is that it seems to have made it back in one piece.
Quote from: PhilB on Jun 16, 2010, 19:29:00
Of course the best news is that it seems to have made it back in one piece.
But do we know that it's been there in the first place, to make it back.................................Do we???
:lipsrsealed:
Tony G
It must be true, it's on the internet :roll:
Anyway, a bit more bit more (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/subaru-hayabusa-asteroid-probe-pictures-100616.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+spaceheadlines+(SPACE.com+Headline+Feed))
And another video in English (http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=SP_100614_hayabusa)
Good question, Tony. And Mick you've got me wondering now. Isn't one of these videos from the guys who faked the moon landings? :evil:
Japanese space officials have found intriguing dust-like particles inside the sample capsule from the asteroid probe Hayabusa, but whether they are actually pieces of an asteroid or contamination from Earth remains to be seen, Japan's space agency announced Tuesday.
The tiny particles were discovered after scientists opened the Hayabusa probe's sample container, which returned to Earth on June 13 after a seven-year journey to the asteroid Itokawa. Scientists began opening the capsule on June 24, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
"The fact is that the JAXA scientists found some particles in the sample container and the sample catcher," JAXA spokesperson Makoto Miwada told SPACE.com.
More: Hayabusa (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/dust-found-inside-asteroid-probe-100707.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+spaceheadlines+(SPACE.com+Headline+Feed))
The Anatomy of an Asteroid
ESO's New Technology Telescope (NTT) has been used to find the first evidence that asteroids can have a highly varied internal structure. By making exquisitely precise measurements astronomers have found that different parts of the asteroid Itokawa have different densities. As well as revealing secrets about the asteroid's formation, finding out what lies below the surface of asteroids may also shed light on what happens when bodies collide in the Solar System, and provide clues about how planets form.
Using very precise ground-based observations, Stephen Lowry (University of Kent, UK) and colleagues have measured the speed at which the near-Earth asteroid (25143) Itokawa spins and how that spin rate is changing over time. They have combined these delicate observations with new theoretical work on how asteroids radiate heat.
This small asteroid is an intriguing subject as it has a strange peanut shape, as revealed by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa in 2005.
More: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1405/
Hayabusa 2 launches on audacious asteroid adventure
A Japanese H-2A launcher blasted off from an idyllic island spaceport Tuesday, dispatching a daring six-year expedition to bring a piece of an asteroid back to Earth.
The Hayabusa 2 mission's roundtrip voyage began at 0422 GMT Wednesday (11:22 p.m. EST Tuesday) with a thunderous ascent from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.
The 1,300-pound spacecraft rode a hydrogen-fueled H-2A rocket through clouds hanging over the seaside spaceport, leaving a twisting column of exhaust in its wake before disappearing hundreds of miles over the Pacific Ocean.
The rocket's upper stage engine fired two times to accelerate Hayabusa 2 on a speedy departure fast enough to break free of the pull of Earth's gravity.
The robotic explorer, packed with four stowaway landers to be deployed to the asteroid's surface, separated from the H-2A rocket at 0609 GMT (1:09 a.m. EST). Applause could be heard in a live webcast of the launch provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which manages the Hayabusa 2 mission.
More: http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/12/03/hayabusa-2-launches-on-audacious-asteroid-adventure/
Japan Launches Asteroid Mission (Hayabusa 2)
On Dec. 3, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched its Hayabusa2 mission to rendezvous with an asteroid, land a small probe plus three mini rovers on its surface, and then return samples to Earth. NASA and JAXA are cooperating on the science of the mission and NASA will receive a portion of the Hayabusa2 sample in exchange for providing Deep Space Network communications and navigation support for the mission.
Hayabusa2 builds on lessons learned from JAXA's initial Hayabusa mission, which collected samples from a small asteroid named Itokawa and returned them to Earth in June 2010. Hayabusa2's target is a 750 meter-wide asteroid named 1999 JU3, because of the year when it was discovered by the NASA-sponsored Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project, Lexington, Massachusetts. This is a C-type asteroid which are thought to contain more organic material than other asteroids. Scientists hope to better understand how the solar system evolved by studying samples from these asteroids.
More: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/04dec_hayabusa2/
Flight Status of Micro Deep-Space Explorer "PROCYON"
The University of Tokyo and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received signals from the Micro deep-space explorer "PROCYON" at 8:51 p.m. on December 3, 2014 (Japan Standard Time), to confirm it had been inserted into the scheduled interplanetary orbit. The satellite is now in the initial operation phase. PROCYON was launched by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26 as a secondary payload of the Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" at 1:22:04 p.m. on Dec. 3, 2014 (JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center.
More: http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2014/12/20141204_procyon.html
Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" Completion of Critical Operation Phase
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed the completion of a sequence of the important operations for the Asteroid Exploration "Hayabusa2" mission including the deployment of the horn part of the sampler that captures samples from the asteroid's surface, the release of the locks for the launch that ratchet the gimbal that controls the direction of the ion engine, and functional verification of the three-axis stabilization controls and the ground precision orbit determination system. With this confirmation, the critical operation phase* of the Hayabusa2 was completed.
More: http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2014/12/20141205_hayabusa2.html
Japan's asteroid probe reportedly found 20 amino acids
Dust that Japan's Hayabusa2 probe returned to Earth from asteroid Ryugu reportedly contain 20 amino acids, according to Japanese media.
Which is very exciting indeed, because amino acids are the stuff of life. They help to build proteins, act as neurotransmitters in the brain, and are utterly ubiquitous and essential in terrestrial life. Just last month, esteemed journal Nature published research suggesting that amino acids had a crucial role in the evolution of the first self-replicating molecules.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/07/japans_asteroid_probe_reportedly_found/
Hopefully it willbe proven that they have found the Amino Acids in space and it wasnt just contamination from earth.
Mac.
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Roger
Sorry , somehow replied to an old Dec link of yours, doh.
Roger :o