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A resilient Japanese space probe is on track to become the first spacecraft to return to Earth with pieces of an asteroid when it drops a sample canister in a deserted patch of the Australian outback in June.
Japan's plucky Hayabusa probe is slowly limping its way back to Earth despite several glitches since its 2005 rendezvous with the small potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa. It will drop a capsule containing the sample canister down on the Woomera Prohibited Area in the South Australian outback as part of an agreement between Australian authorities and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The Woomera Prohibited Area, which is managed by Australia's Department of Defense, is the largest land-based test range in the world.
"Australia is proud to support Japan in this world-first expedition," said Senator Kim Carr, Australia's Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
Touching an asteroid
Hayabusa spent three months exploring the Itokawa asteroid in late 2005, even making an unplanned landing on the asteroid's surface. The probe spent up to a half-hour on Itokawa, making it the first spacecraft to lift off from an asteroid.
While telemetry showed that Hayabusa likely did not fire its projectile as planned while on Itokawa's surface, scientists are hoping that bits of dust or pebbles traveled through the probe's funnel and into its sample return capsule.
Hayabusa took approximately 1,600 pictures, collected about 120,000 observations of near-infrared spectral data and recorded 15,000 data points with its X-ray spectrometer to investigate Itokawa's surface composition.
Japan's plucky Hayabusa probe is slowly limping its way back to Earth despite several glitches since its 2005 rendezvous with the small potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa. It will drop a capsule containing the sample canister down on the Woomera Prohibited Area in the South Australian outback as part of an agreement between Australian authorities and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The Woomera Prohibited Area, which is managed by Australia's Department of Defense, is the largest land-based test range in the world.
"Australia is proud to support Japan in this world-first expedition," said Senator Kim Carr, Australia's Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
Touching an asteroid
Hayabusa spent three months exploring the Itokawa asteroid in late 2005, even making an unplanned landing on the asteroid's surface. The probe spent up to a half-hour on Itokawa, making it the first spacecraft to lift off from an asteroid.
While telemetry showed that Hayabusa likely did not fire its projectile as planned while on Itokawa's surface, scientists are hoping that bits of dust or pebbles traveled through the probe's funnel and into its sample return capsule.
Hayabusa took approximately 1,600 pictures, collected about 120,000 observations of near-infrared spectral data and recorded 15,000 data points with its X-ray spectrometer to investigate Itokawa's surface composition.
