• PROJECTS
• THE PLANETARY REPORT
• PLANETARY RADIO
• BLOG
  • Archive
  • Future Space Events of Note
  • Video Archives
• SOCIETY UPDATES
• COSMOS AWARD

The Planetary Society Blog

By Emily Lakdawalla

Hooray for Hayabusa!

We need your help.
Please donate to support our blog, website, and podcast.

Weblog Archive

According to JAXA (the Japanese space agency), poor little Hayabusa has successfully restarted its ion engine and has resumed powered flight today. Hooray! This is good news for Hayabusa's eventual return to Earth.

The Japanese version of the announcement seems to contain more information (the link takes you to a Google-translated version). Before the engine was restarted, three-axis stabilization was reestablished; this is in contrast to spin stabilization, which is a simpler mode but which is no good for powered flight. Also good news!

Hayabusa Artist's depiction of Hayabusa at asteroid Itokawa. Credit: JAXA

Post this page to:

Comments

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Title

Comment

To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

Emily's on Twitter! »