Emily LakdawallaNov 17, 2005

Another Hayabusa update: small delay

There has been a delay of just about a day in JAXA's plans for landing Hayabusa on Itokawa. Here is the update that we just received from Tak Iyori of The Planetary Society of Japan:

ISAS re-scheduled Hayabusa's sampling activity as below. Time is JST. At around 9p.m. on Saturday, November 19 [noon UTC], Hayabusa will start descending. At around 3 a.m. on Sunday, November 20 [6 p.m. Nov 19 UTC], ISAS will announce status of Hayabusa. At around 5a.m. [8 p.m. UTC], ISAS will decide on "go or no go." If "go" command is sent from Earth, Hayabusa will make the closest approach to Itokawa at around 6 a.m. [9 p.m. UTC] At 6:30 a.m. [9:30 p.m. UTC], ISAS will announce whether or not the target marker containing approximately 880,000 names was released. At around 10:00 a.m. [1 a.m. Nov 20 UTC], ISAS will annouce whether or not Hayabusa made the contact with Itokawa's surface. Around noon, a press conference will be held for the results.

Let’s Go Beyond The Horizon

Every success in space exploration is the result of the community of space enthusiasts, like you, who believe it is important. You can help usher in the next great era of space exploration with your gift today.

Donate Today