* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: HAYABUSA (MUSES-C) mission

Blobrana · L

The Hayabusa spacecraft was launched on 9 May 2003 at 04:29:25 UT (1:29 p.m. local time) on an M-5 solid fuel booster from the Kagoshima launch centre. Following launch, the name Muses-C was changed to Hayabusa (the Japanese word for falcon) and the spacecraft was put into a transfer orbit to bring it to asteroid 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36), a 0.3 x 0.7 km near-Earth object. The ion engines were successfully test-fired starting on 27 May to the middle of June, 2003.
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Blobrana · L

On 16 November 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency reported that dust collected during Hayabusa's voyage was indeed from asteroid 25143 Itokawa.

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Blobrana · L

JAXA Scientists Analyse Asteroid Rocks From Hayabusa Probe

Scientists have completed their initial analysis of asteroid samples from JAXAs HAYABUSA-1 mission, which returned to earth in 2010 after seven years in space.
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Blobrana · L

Hayabusa ("Peregrine Falcon") was an unmanned spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis.
In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid and collected samples in the form of tiny grains of asteroidal material, which were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft on 13 June 2010.
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Blobrana · L

1st International Announcement of Opportunity for HAYABUSA Sample Investigation

JAXA has released the 1st International Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for HAYABUSA Sample Investigations. The AO is open to the global scientific community, so proposals are also welcomed from European investigators.
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Blobrana · L

Anniversary of the arrival of the Hayabusa spacecraft at Asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2005.

HAYABUSA Probe Mission overview

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3D Structure of Hayabusa Samples of S-type Asteroid 25143 Itokawa

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asteroid itokawa

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Blobrana · L

Title: Photographic Observations of the Hayabusa Re-entry
Authors: Jirí Borovicka, Shinsuke Abe, Luká Shrbený, Pavel Spurný, Philip A. Bland

We analysed photographic observations of the re-entry of the Hayabusa spacecraft and capsule over Southern Australia on June 13, 2010, 13:52 UT. Radiometric measurements of the brightness of the associated fireball were obtained as well. We derived the trajectories and velocities of the spacecraft, its four fragments and the capsule. The capsule trajectory was within a few hundred meters of the trajectory predicted by JAXA prior the re-entry. The spacecraft trajectory was about 1 km higher than the capsule trajectory. Two major fragments separated from the spacecraft at a height of about 62 km with mutual lateral velocity of 250 m/s. The maximum absolute magnitude of the fireball of -12.6 was reached at a height of 67 km. The dynamic pressures acting on the spacecraft at the fragmentation points were only 1 - 50 kPa. No spacecraft fragment was seen to survive below the height of 47 km. The integral luminous efficiency of the event was 1.3%. As expected, the capsule had a very low luminous efficiency and very low ablation coefficient. The ablation coefficients and masses of the major spacecraft fragments are discussed.

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Blobrana · L

Hayabusa space probe recognised by Guinness World Records

JAXA applied for recognition by the famous records body, and received official confirmation on May 23 for the world's first successful completion of a round-trip mission to an asteroid and for bringing back material from the target. The Hayabusa space probe, launched in May 2003 and plagued by near-fatal system failures, made a triumphant return to Earth with a precious cargo of dust samples from the Itokawa asteroid on June 13, 2010.
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Blobrana · L

The Hayabusa probe re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and parachute down to the ground at Woomera in South Australia, on 13th June, 2010.