spacetoday.net: Report: Hayabusa may not have collected asteroid samples

Posted: Wed, Dec 7, 2005, 8:25 AM ET (1325 GMT)
Hayabusa spacecraft illus. (JAXA)

Japanese space agency officials said Wednesday that the Hayabusa spacecraft, which touched down on the surface of an asteroid last month, may not have been able to collect any samples because of a technical problem. Hayabusa landed briefly on the surface of Itokawa on November 26, and was supposed to collect samples of the surface by firing a small pellet into the surface, kicking up debris that would be captured by the probe. However, JAXA said Wednesday that they are unable to confirm that the pellet did fire, and said that there is "a high possibility" the pellet in fact did not fire. If so, it would be another setback for the mission, which encountered a number of problems that at times put the spacecraft's future in jeopardy. Scientists had hoped that Hayabusa had overcome those problems and would be able to return those samples to Earth in mid-2007. Hayabusa has also suffered from a thruster problem that could prevent it from returning to Earth regardless of its success in collecting asteroid samples.