[extropy-chat] Woohoo! A precious piece of asteroid in Hayabusa's hand

[Amara Graps]

Wow! Congratulations to JAXA!! Hayabusa succeeded on its second try to
*touch down for a few seconds* (!) with its giant scooper and scoop
material from the asteroid surface... But we won't know until
June 2007 what the scooper contains....

Amara

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Japanese Spacecraft to Start Journey Home


http://www.newsday.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-japan-asteroid,0,612095.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines

By HIROKO TABUCHI
Associated Press Writer

November 27, 2005, 11:59 AM EST

TOKYO -- A Japanese spacecraft on an unprecedented mission to bring
asteroid material back to Earth is set to start home despite showing
signs of trouble earlier, an executive of Japan's space agency, JAXA,
said Sunday.

On Saturday, the Hayabusa probe apparently landed on the Itokawa
asteroid and collected surface samples. After the landing, the probe
hovered about three miles from the asteroid and appeared to be shaking
due to a possible gas leak from a thruster, JAXA said.

The probe shut down all its engines Saturday and switched to solar
power while JAXA investigated the problem.

But the probe appears to be stabilizing, and JAXA plans to re-ignite
its engines by Dec. 10 for the return journey, JAXA executive Yasunori
Matogawa said.

"We will meet that deadline, whatever happens," Matogawa said.
Otherwise, it would be two more years before the probe -- orbiting the
sun between Earth and Mars together with the asteroid -- would be in
the right position to return, he said.

JAXA said the Hayabusa appeared to have touched down for a few seconds
on the asteroid about 180 million miles from Earth, collecting powder
from its surface and then lifting off again to transmit data to
mission controllers.

But the agency will not know for sure if Hayabusa collected surface
samples until it returns to Earth. It is expected to land in
Australia's Outback in June 2007, more than four years after its
launch in May 2003.

If all goes well, it will be the first time a probe returns to Earth
with samples from an asteroid, according to JAXA. A NASA probe
collected data for two weeks from the asteroid Eros in 2001, but it
did not return to Earth.

The landing on the asteroid was Hayabusa's second, following a faulty
touchdown earlier this month. JAXA lost contact with the probe during
that attempt and did not even realize it had landed until days later
-- long after it had lifted off.

Scientists hope examining asteroid samples will help unlock the
secrets of how celestial bodies formed. Asteroid surfaces are believed
to have remained relatively unchanged over the eons, unlike larger
bodies such as planets and moons.

On top of recovering samples from the asteroid, the probe also is
testing a new type of ion engine that uses an electric field to
accelerate positive ions to a high velocity. JAXA hopes to use the
fuel-saving technology in missions farther into space, its Web site
said.

The Hayabusa mission is part of Japan's efforts to expand its space
exploration program. Earlier this year, JAXA said it would send its
first astronauts into space and set up a base on the moon by 2025.

-- 

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Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara at amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
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               "Space travel is utter bilge."
     ---Richard van der Riet Woolley [Astronomer Royal 1956--71]