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Space Topics

Hayabusa (MUSES-C)


Hayabusa burned up in Earth's atmosphere on Sunday, June 13 at about 14:00 UTC, sacrificing itself to return its sample capsule to Earth. The capsule landed in the Woomera Prohibited Area, Australia. Follow the latest Hayabusa events through The Planetary Society Blog.

Some other key posts about the return:

2010-11-17: A little more information on the Hayabusa samples from Itokawa
2010-11-15: It's official: Hayabusa sample return successful!
2010-07-06: A look inside the Hayabusa sample capsule
2010-06-14: Hayabusa update: Capsule retrieved, heat shield found
2010-06-13: Hayabusa's sample return capsule and parachute photographed on the ground in Australia!
2010-06-13: Hayabusa's return: a review
2010-06-13: Welcome home, Hayabusa!
2010-06-11: Preparing for Hayabusa's return
2010-06-10: Waiting...
2010-06-09: Hayabusa's final approach on target; Japan's ready to receive samples
2010-06-08: Hayabusa: "I did my best!" and A Brief History of Hayabusa
2010-06-07: Six days left for Hayabusa: A recap of the mission

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) MUSES-C / Hayabusa mission is the first to attempt to land on an asteroid, collect samples, and return them to Earth. It launched on May 9, 2003, onboard an MV-5 rocket, from the Uchinoura Launch Center in Kagoshima, on Kyushu Island, Japan, and headed on a 1-billion kilometer journey to an asteroid named for the "father" of Japan's space program, Hideo Itokawa.

When Hayabusa swung by Earth in May 2004 for a gravity assist, it was sent on its trajectory straight to Itokawa and straight into the space history books as the first spacecraft to perform a flyby maneuver using an ion engine as the main thruster. The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) spacecraft tested a host of new technologies along the way, surviving two major solar flares en route, one of which slightly degraded the solar panels, causing a delay in arrival. The spacecraft arrived at Itokawa in good shape on September 12, 2005, and the mission logged another milestone by conducting the world's first low-thrust rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid.

Hayabusa made detailed observations of the asteroid from only a few kilometers away. The mission's attempt to deploy a tiny hopper, Minerva, failed on November 12. Hayabusa attempted two landings in mid-November 2005. During the second of the landing attempts, it sprung a leak in its chemical rocket system, causing a cascade of damage to the spacecraft and loss of communication with Earth; and it is unknown whether the spacecraft successfully collected any dust samples from Itokawa. Controllers reestablished contact with the spacecraft, but the damage forced a delay in Hayabusa's planned return date from 2007 to 2010.

Hayabusa successfully returned its sample capsule to Earth on June 13, 2010, and on November 16, JAXA confirmed that it contained tiny dust grains from Itokawa.

Hayabusa Basic Facts
Launch date: May 9, 2003 from Uchinoura Launch Center, Kagoshima, Kyushu Island Japan
Launch vehicle: MV-5 rocket (Japan)
Arrival at asteroid: September 12, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., Japanese Standard Time/1 a.m. Universal Time (UT)