Was Hayabusa Damaged In Second Asteroid Landing Attempt? | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.22.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.16.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-04.17.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers-04.18.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.19.24

Join Us At 0900ET, Friday, 4/10, for the LIVE Morning Brief.
Watch It LIVE at
www.airborne-live.net

Mon, Nov 28, 2005

Was Hayabusa Damaged In Second Asteroid Landing Attempt?

Thrusters Latest Issue To Strike Trouble-Prone Probe

A Japanese spacecraft on an unprecedented mission to collect samples from an asteroid and bring them home to Earth is indeed on its way back -- but may have been damaged in landing.

All engines aboard the Hayabusa lander were shut down for a time as it hovered about three miles above the Itokawa asteroid. It had been vibrating as if one of its thrusters had developed a leak of some sort.

The probe now appears to be stabilizing, and the Japanese Space Agency JAXA will reportedly restart its engines December 10th for the long trek home.

It was the second landing attempt for Hayabusa. As was reported in Aero-News last week, JAXA lost touch with the spacecraft as it made its first attempt. It wasn't until the probe had lifted off again and communications were re-established that JAXA controller realized the Hayabusa ship had indeed landed, for approximately 30 minutes.

The question JAXA controllers were asking after that attempt is the same they're asking now: was the probe able to collect any samples from the asteroid's surface? The answer may not be apparent until the robotic spacecraft returns to Earth -- in June 2007.

FMI: www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.24.24): Runway Lead-in Light System

Runway Lead-in Light System Runway Lead-in Light System Consists of one or more series of flashing lights installed at or near ground level that provides positive visual guidance a>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.24.24)

Aero Linx: Aviation Without Borders Aviation Without Borders uses its aviation expertise, contacts and partnerships to enable support for children and their families – at hom>[...]

Aero-FAQ: Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories -- ITBOA BNITBOB

Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Best Seat in The House -- 'Inside' The AeroShell Aerobatic Team

From 2010 (YouTube Version): Yeah.... This IS A Really Cool Job When ANN's Nathan Cremisino took over the lead of our Aero-TV teams, he knew he was in for some extra work and a lot>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 04.18.24: CarbonCub UL, Fisher, Affordable Flyer Expo

Also: Junkers A50 Heritage, Montaer Grows, Dynon-Advance Flight Systems, Vans' Latest Officially, the Carbon Cub UL and Rotax 916 iS is now in its 'market survey development phase'>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC