The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla
Hayabusa update: Sample container is ready for return to Earth
Jan. 30, 2007 | 10:37 PST | 18:37 UTC
JAXA has issued a press release (in Japanese -- here's the Google translation) stating that they have achieved some of the milestones necessary to return Hayabusa's sample container to Earth. JSpace helpfully provided English translations of some of the key points of the lengthy release: - Four of the 11 lithium ion battery cells are dead.
- The healthy cells have been recharged successfully.
- Under power from the successfully recharged batteries, Hayabusa's sample container has been moved into the reentry cupsule and its lid has been closed successfully.
- ISAS/JAXA is working on preparation for the return to the Earth.
So -- progress is being made. Remember, though, that it is not known whether the sample container actually contains any samples. Data from Hayabusa indicate that the pellet that should have been fired toward the asteroid to kick off particles into Hayabusa's sampling horn never, in fact, fired. However, the gravity on Itokawa is so slight that just the contact of the sampling horn with the surface could have tossed a few particles upward and into the container. Any dust grains from Itokawa, no matter how few or how tiny, would represent the first samples ever returned from the surface of an asteroid, so as long as ISAS and JAXA can talk to the spacecraft, it's worth trying to return it home.Hayabusa sampling ItokawaComputer simulation of Hayabusa sampling the surface of Itokawa Credit: Kazuya Yoshida, Space Robotics Laboratory, Tohoku University |
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