Hayabusa return delayed
Posted: Wed, Dec 14, 2005, 8:23 AM ET (1323 GMT)
Japan's Hayabusa space probe will delay its return to Earth by three years because of ongoing thruster problems with the spacecraft. Hayabusa, still in the vicinity of the asteroid Itokawa, needs to fire its main engine by mid-December in order to enter a trajectory that will bring the spacecraft back to Earth in mid-2007. However, continued thruster problems have hampered normal operations, and JAXA officials said Wednesday that they are rescheduling the spacecraft's return. That change will keep the spacecraft from returning to Earth until mid-2010, assuming that spacecraft operations return to normal. Hayabusa is designed to return to Earth carrying samples of the asteroid's surface, but project officials said last week there is no guarantee the spacecraft collected any, because a pellet used to kick up samples from the surface apparently did not fire.
Japan's Hayabusa space probe will delay its return to Earth by three years because of ongoing thruster problems with the spacecraft. Hayabusa, still in the vicinity of the asteroid Itokawa, needs to fire its main engine by mid-December in order to enter a trajectory that will bring the spacecraft back to Earth in mid-2007. However, continued thruster problems have hampered normal operations, and JAXA officials said Wednesday that they are rescheduling the spacecraft's return. That change will keep the spacecraft from returning to Earth until mid-2010, assuming that spacecraft operations return to normal. Hayabusa is designed to return to Earth carrying samples of the asteroid's surface, but project officials said last week there is no guarantee the spacecraft collected any, because a pellet used to kick up samples from the surface apparently did not fire.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Manufacturing defect blamed for lost nozzle on second Vulcan launch
Posted: Sun, Mar 16 3:21 PM ET (1921 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, March 16
Axiom Space Selects Siemens’ Software to Enable Next-Gen Space Innovation
Axiom Space — 4:55 pm ET (2055 GMT) SKY Perfect JSAT Selects Thales Alenia Space to build “JSAT-32” Communications Satellite
Thales Alenia Space — 4:54 pm ET (2054 GMT) Space Norway secures Intelsat as the anchor broadcasting customer on its new THOR 8 satellite.
Space Norway — 4:53 pm ET (2053 GMT) Draper Awards ispace an Additional $7.7 Million as part of the NASA CLPS CP-12 Task Order
ispace — 4:51 pm ET (2051 GMT) ispace and Kurita Water Industries Sign Agreement to Transport Water Purification Demonstration System to the Moon
ispace — 4:51 pm ET (2051 GMT) |
