Hayabusa 2 launches on audacious asteroid adventure

[mickw]

Lucky the video had subtitles, I wouldn't have known what was going on 


Anyway, here's a bit more info - More

[PhilB]

 

[PhilB]

Of course the best news is that it seems to have made it back in one piece.

[Tony G]

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???


Tony G

[mickw]

It must be true, it's on the internet 

Anyway, a bit more   bit more

And another video    in English

[PhilB]

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?   

[mickw]

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

[Rick]

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/

[Rick]

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/

[Rick]

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/

[Rick]

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

[Rick]

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

[Rick]

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/

[Mac]

Hopefully it willbe proven that they have found the Amino Acids in space and it wasnt just contamination from earth.

Mac.

[ApophisAstros]

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Roger