Hayabusa 2 launches on audacious asteroid adventure

[Mike]

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

[Rick]

Ummm... Think the wrong link got in there, Mike...

[Mike]

Ooops !!  

Edited!

[Rick]

Ah! That makes more sense...

[Mike]

Oh dear !! - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4316162.stm

[Rick]

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

[JohnP]

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.

[Rick]

Oh dear. The trouble continues:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4435576.stm

The images are pretty impressive though.

[Mike]

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

[Rick]

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/

[mickw]

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

[mickw]

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

Even more

And another one

[The Thing]

Another Aussie UFO sighting to be expected then...

[mickw]

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

[Tony G]

Lovely video of the re-entry.

http://www.wimp.com/hayabusamission/

Tony G