Just about everything that could go wrong happened to the Hayabusa foreign mission , yet it still made it back to Earth while carefully protect 1,500 precious samples from asteroid Itokawa ’s surface .
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched theHayabusaon May 9 , 2003 . It land on the asteroid ’s surface on November 25 and 27 , 2005 , and returned to Earth on June 13 , 2010 . It match all scientific objective lens for the mission . But the true floor is in the details of just how many ways the mission could go wrong without outright failing .
Asteroid Itokawa is decidedly lopsided . double credit : JAXA
The spacecraft was originally specify to set in motion in July 2002 and target the asteroid 4660 Nereus or ( 10302 ) 1989 ML . rather , a Eruca sativa failure delayed the launch and involve the selection of a new prey : asteroid 25143 Itokawa , a skew-whiff cylinder—540 m by 270 meters by 210 meters across — named for Japanese rocket pioneer Hideo Itokawa .
The next hiccough was the loading . Hayabusa was originally stand for to carry a small Muses - CN rover created by NASA , but it was trim from the budget . Instead , it take a detachable minilander Micro / Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid , or MINERVA . It was design to use an interior flywheel to hop along the asteroid ’s surface , sending photographs back to Hayabusa .
The problem did n’t stop once the spacecraft launched . A solar solar flare in 2003 damaged the spacecraft ’s solar cells , reducing the efficiency of ion engine and delaying arrival at the near - worldly concern asteroid Itokawa from June to September of 2005 . Since the deviation windowpane to get back to Earth was deposit , this squished timeline meant that only two of three landing attempt were even potential in the best fate .
The problems continued once Hayabusa reached the asteroid . The space vehicle collected data on the asteroid ’s shape , spin , topography , colour , authorship , and tightness before two of its reaction wheel failed on July 31 , 2005 . But the true pandemonium came with the landing attempt .
Hayabusa casting a shadow on the asteroid Itokaw . Image credit : JAXA
An computer error caused MINERVA to fail , with the niggling hopper deploying but never landing or returning . Thankfully , Hayabusa was also designed to down , firing tiny rocket to kick up dust into its deployable sample container . Except that of course of instruction nothing could possibly be that promiscuous for the accident - prone automatonlike Internet Explorer .
Once at the asteroid , closemouthed examination revealed Woomera Desert landing situation was too rocky , yet the spacecraft still managed to put down at the Muses Sea site . Sort of .
The original “ rehearsal ” landing place go bad , setting the spacecraft into safe mode and a stabilizing twisting .
The first actual landing attempt was a cascade of mistake — an obstacle triggered an abort endeavour , but it was too near and or else descended in safe mode without triggering a taste attempt . The sample horn was still seal in the Bob Hope dust kicked up from the spacecraft was accidentally collected .
Another endeavour was made two days after , but a passing water in the thruster system of rules bemuse the space vehicle into secure mode again , again preventing firing of the midget projectiles designed to spark off a nebulizer of debris into the deployable sample distribution trumpet .
Between the two landing attempts , the spacecraft spend about 30 minutes on the surface with no guarantee it collect a single particle of asteroid - dust .
Most of the Hayabusa spacecraft burned up during reentry on June 13 , 2010 . epitome course credit : JAXA
Problems with frozen pipes , leak fuel , and communications bug causedeven more consternation as the ballistic capsule seek to part the asteroid . By the time the return capsule was headed back to Earth , only 2 of 4 ion engines and 7 of 11 batteries were working ; another ion engine automatically close down partway through the journey nursing home . By reentry , the chemical reaction control system was no longer useable .
The halting spacecraft bankrupt up during reentry , incinerate in a powerhouse as the sampling drifted down to the Woomera outback of South Australia in a heat - shielded space capsule .
call up the Hayabusa sample distribution from the Australian outback . effigy credit : JAXA
Finally back on Earth , the samples were pack into treble - plastic udder of staring nitrogen gas to thin contaminant , and loaded into a payload container with air suspension to avoid daze over 1.5 g. The filth at the landing website was collected for compare to control the sampling had n’t been pollute . It took another twelvemonth to spring up routine to avoid contaminating the sample while hit the books them .
After all the pother , Hayabusa rejoin some 1,500 bouldered speck from asteroid Itokawa . Almost all of them were under 10 micrometer in size , tiny particles of olivine , pyroxene , plagioclase , and iron sulphide .
Every metric grain of Itokawa sample are the topic of intense scrutiny . Image credit : JAXA / Eizo Nakamura 2012
Hayabusa was the second space vehicle to land on an asteroid , following after NASA ’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker spacecraft landing place on the asteroid Eros on February 12 , 2001 . It was the first to ever gather up a sample of an asteroid ’s surface , and the first to ever attempt an asteroid sampling homecoming .
The ballistic capsule ’s name Hayabusa ( はやぶさ ) transform as “ Peregrine Falcon . ”
Hayabusa2 launch in December 2014en path to asteroid 162173,recently rename from 1999 JU3 to 162173 Ryugu . The mission is set to land on the asteroid and once again do sampling operations , this fourth dimension with a small drove of golem .
connect with the source at[email protected]or follow her at@MikaMcKinnon .
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