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Asteroid sampling mission probably failed 16:01 07 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Maggie McKee and AFP The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa is likely to have failed in its landmark mission to collect the first-ever samples from an asteroid, mission officials said on Wednesday. It also faces trouble returning to Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had earlier said the Hayabusa probe "most probably" succeeded in gathering material from the Itokawa asteroid, 290 million kilometres from Earth, on 26 November. The spacecraft was thought to have landed on the space rock for just one second, firing two metal pellets to throw...

A group of astronomers from NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other organizations had a front row seat to observe the Hayabusa spacecraft's fiery plunge into Earth's atmosphere. The team was aboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory, packed with cameras and other imaging instruments, to capture the high-speed re-entry over an unpopulated area of central Australia on June 13, 2010. The Japanese spacecraft has been on a seven-year journey to return a sample of the asteroid Itokawa.

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's space agency said Wednesday its spacecraft had successfully touched down on an asteroid 180 million miles from Earth despite an earlier announcement that it had failed. On Sunday, JAXA officials had said the Hayabusa probe, on a mission to land on the asteroid named Itokawa, collect material, then bring it back to Earth, failed to touch down after maneuvering within yards of the surface. However, the agency said Wednesday that data confirmed that Hayabusa had landed on the surface Sunday for a half-hour, although it failed to collect material. JAXA officials had said earlier that Hayabusa...

TOKYO - A Japanese spacecraft that landed on an asteroid to collect surface samples for analysis has developed trouble with its thruster system, the nation's space agency said Tuesday. The problem is the latest facing Japan's attempt to complete the world's first two-way trip to an asteroid, following earlier problems with the probe's gyroscopes and two botched practice landings.The Hayabusa probe appeared to have touched down Saturday, just long enough to collect powder from the asteroid's surface and lift off again to return to Earth.But it soon began shaking due to a gas leak from a thruster, and that continued...

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.

Smooth Sections on Asteroid Itokawa Credit & Copyright: ISAS, JAXA Explanation: Why are parts of this asteroid's surface so smooth? No one is yet sure, but it may have to do with the dynamics of an asteroid that is a loose pile of rubble rather than a solid rock. The unusual asteroid is currently being visited by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa that is documenting its unusual structure and mysterious lack of craters. Last month, Hayabusa actually touched down on one of the smooth patches, dubbed the MUSES Sea, and collected soil samples that will eventually be returned to Earth...

The country that invented the Walkman may be back on track to burnish its image as a technological pioneer. Right now, more than 4.7 million miles from Earth, is a revolutionary spacecraft that could be the future of interstellar travel. Japan's space program, JAXA, confirmed on June 10 they had successfully unfurled the world's first solar sail — a spacecraft that uses the velocity of sunlight to propel it. Then, just three days later, Japan announced what could be an even more impressive accomplishment: a spacecraft that left Earth seven years ago had returned home. Before brilliantly burning up over...

The microwave discharge ion engines onboard HAYABUSA asteroid explorer have marked space operation of twenty thousands hour and unit as the accumulated operational time on December 9th. HAYABUSA spacecraft, which was launched on May 2003, succeeded the Earth swing-by on May this year and continues to transfer into the asteroid using the acceleration by the ion engines. They generated 1,300m/s delta-V consuming 20kg propellant up to now. After September the space maneuver using three ion engines was throttled down in order to adapt power reduction of the solar array panels due to enlargement of solar distance. Furthermore one of three...

For almost two years and three months after the launch in May of 2003, Hayabusa spacecraft has traveled a long journey by way of Earth gravity assist in May of 2004, and will make a worldÕs first low thrust rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid Itokawa next month. Hayabusa performed the Star Tracker imaging of Itokawa on July 29-30, August 8-9 and August 12. Totally, 24 images were taken and the hybrid navigation combining both radio and optical measurement was performed and the results came out enough well to guide the spacecraft making a final approach to the object. The...

The orbit maneuver of HAYABUSA spacecraft was handed over from the ion engines to the bi-propellant thrusters on August 28 JST. After the solar conjunction the microwave discharge ion engines were turned on again at the end of July and accelerated with their full throttling so as to approach to the target. At the end of August HAYABUSA stays 4,800km (3,000 mi.) apart from Asteroid ITOKAWA and is still closing it at 32km/h (20 mph) velocity with the ion engines off. HAYABUSA asteroid explorer, launched on May 9 2003, has executed the orbit maneuver using the microwave discharge ion engines,...

Slowly pulling alongside a space rock the size of several typical city blocks, a Japanese probe is preparing to begin scooping the first dusty samples of material from the surface of an asteroid this fall for an eventual return to Earth. Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft is halfway through a four-year $100 million mission to chase down a small celestial target, retrieve pieces of its rocky crust, and return them safely to Earth in a capsule designed to survive the intense heat as it enters the atmosphere and parachutes to a safe landing. Formerly known as MUSES-C, the Hayabusa craft was launched...

England - Rivals from the United States and Europe get the bigger headlines and bigger budgets, but a little-noticed Japanese mission to a distant space rock may scoop them all. Launched on May 9 2003, the little probe Hayabusa ("Falcon") is now on the brink of rendezvousing with a 630-metre asteroid on a mission that could prove historic. If all goes well, Hayabusa will be the first spacecraft to bring home raw material from an asteroid, part of the primeval rubble left over from the making of the Solar System. "It is an utterly remarkable project which has been given...

Itokawa Image on September 10 Hayabusa continues approaching Itokawa, and its image is growing day by day. The left image is taken at 15:00 UTC on September 10 by the visible imager, AMICA. The distance from Hayabusa to Itokawa is approximately 30 km. The right image was obtained at 16:42 UTC on the day. The left image shows different face from the last release. Itokawa rotates about 50 degrees between left and right images. Surface features are more clearly seen.

Smash-and-grab expected to be breakthrough 'Glitterball' with 877,490 names to be left behind Under the gentle puff of its ion drive, a Japanese space probe is positioning itself for an extraterrestrial first: a smash and grab on a speeding asteroid. The Hayabusa (or falcon) probe has been chasing the asteroid since 2003 and has this week reached within tens of miles of its surface.Scientists at the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science will spend the next few weeks using Hayabusa's cameras to build up a detailed map of the asteroid. The probe will close in on the asteroid...

Japanese asteroid sample-return spacecraft Hayabusa arrived Itokawa on 10:00 am, 12 Sep (JST: Japanese Standard Time). Now Hayabusa hovers around 20 kilometers away from asteroid Itokawa. Hayabusa will bring back samples from an asteroid and investigate the mysteries of the birth of the solar system. This picture was taken at 8:35 am, 12 Sep (JST) just before the settlement by the visible imager AMICA. Field of view is two degrees. The photo shows contrast of rocky and hilly region and smooth area, which may suggest the origin of this asteroid. This feature may be a key to consider Itokawa’s origin...

PARIS — Japan’s Hayabusa asteroid sample-return spacecraft has lost the use of a second reaction wheel, forcing increased reliance on its chemical-propellant thrusters for attitude control and raising questions about whether it can make its planned asteroid touchdown in November, Japan’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) announced Oct. 4. Hayabusa, known as MUSES-C before its May 2003 launch, remains in a stable position 6.8 kilometers from its target, the Itokawa asteroid, now 305.9 million kilometers from Earth. Using two reaction control systems with the remaining reaction wheel, the probe is scheduled to continue scouting possible landing sites on...

Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft is on track to attempt a sampling of asteroid Itokawa on November 19. In a rescheduled practice run on November 9, the craft has approached within 230 feet (70 meters) of the asteroid during a descent test that verified the probe's guidance and navigation functions. Engineers handling the Hayabusa spacecraft have clarified the issues that led to the cancellation of a November 4 landing rehearsal. An onboard navigation computer detected anomalous information during the practice run. The problem resulted in an abort command being transmitted to the probe by Earth controllers, thereby stopping the rehearsal. Subsequently, the...

23:39 2005-11-12 A landing craft from the Japanese space probe Hayabusa is expected to land on Itokawa as part of the first ever mission to land on an asteroid. The names of people from Liverpool are among about a million gathered globally which have been inscribed on an aluminium sheet on a landing robot. It is thought the names will lie on the asteroid for about one billion years. They were gathered by the Planetary Society of Japan as part of the mission, which aims to gather samples of space dust, reports BBC News. According to Space.com, taking some 12...

Japanese space probe Hayabusa may have failed to land on the asteroid Itokawa, located about 290 million kilometers away from the Earth, Japan's space agency said Sunday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said it is uncertain whether Hayabusa has landed on the asteroid, adding the probe is apparently moving upward after hovering around 10 meters away from the small celestial body. The agency said the spacecraft, which temporarily lost contact with it, may have faced some sort of operational trouble. The probe dropped a ball with a reflecting plate as a landing target from about 40 meters above the...

TOKYO - A Japanese space probe is heading back toward an asteroid for a second landing attempt after failing to touch down over the weekend, space agency officials said Monday. Communications between the Hayabusa probe and Japan's space agency, JAXA, have returned to normal after the vessel inexplicably stopped just yards from the asteroid Itokawa on Sunday. The probe, which also botched a rehearsal earlier this month, is on a mission to briefly land on the asteroid, collect material, then bring it back to Earth. Officials will analyze data from the probe Tuesday to find out what went wrong in...