News JAXA-Hayabusa mission news.

[N_Molson]

That's a courageous little probe ! I hope it will succeed, the whole trip was a real odyssey ! May the protect her !!

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

That's a courageous little probe ! I hope it will succeed, the whole trip was a real odyssey ! May the protect her !!

N_Molson, we weren't going to tell you this, but since you are now "in the trusted circle", you might as well know:

Hayabusa is the !

:rofl:

 

[ar81]

Hayabusa is not the

Look at this:

and look at this...

Is Hayabusa a Tie Fighter? Or do we have evidence that a Tie Fighter damaged the japanese probe?

 

[tl8]

http://www.usq.edu.au/newsevents/news/stardust

I wonder if I can stow away?

 

[tblaxland]

I wonder if I can stow away?

Just a hop, skip and a jump to USQ

I wonder which aircraft? SOFIA?

 

[80mileshigh]

I wonder which aircraft? SOFIA?

Sky and Telescope says it's going to be the DC-8:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/91854724.html

See also:

http://airborne.seti.org/hayabusa/
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/aircraft/DC-8/index.html

Pretty exciting!

 

[tblaxland]

TCM-1 was completed at 2010-05-04 02:57 UTC. Perigee remains at about 200 km. The purpose of the TCM was to slow Hayabusa down prior to TCM-2. TCM-2 is to correct the trajectory perpendicular to the velocity vector however it also includes a significant prograde component due to spacecraft attitude constraints and TCM-1 was performed retrograde to reduce the spacecraft velocity by roughly the same amount so that the re-entry is still phased correctly with Woomera. TCM-2 should occur at the end of May.

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missions/hayabusa/trj.shtml#new

I'm trying to find some current state vectors from Hayabusa but I'm not having much luck. The ones on JPL Horizons pre-date the trajectory correction burns. Does anyone have any other sources?

BTW, get your re-entry t-shirts here http://www.cafepress.com.au/planetaryshop.441600448

 

[BrianJ]

BTW, get your re-entry t-shirts here http://www.cafepress.com.au/planetaryshop.441600448

...or even your "Hayabusa Return Teddybear"
http://www.cafepress.com.au/planetaryshop.441600432

I'm trying to find some current state vectors from Hayabusa but I'm not having much luck. The ones on JPL Horizons pre-date the trajectory correction burns. Does anyone have any other sources?

Hayabusa was the first spacecraft I ever made for Orbiter (way back), so I'm rather fond of this mission, especially considering the enormous problems the spacecraft and the JAXA team have overcome during the last 7 years.

I remember I emailed JAXA to see if there was any information available about the trajectory, and received an email back from Prof.Kawaguchi (no less!) with a link and password to access info on the Kawalab database!
Sadly, I've lost the link and password in the intervening years. But you could try contacting them. http://www.hayabusa.isas.jaxa.jp/kawalab/index_e.html
Let us know if you find any state-vectors, I haven't had any luck so far.

I imagine succesful return of the capsule is still very uncertain - will the seperation and parachute mechanisms work after an extra three years in space? Are there still problems with unpredictable outgassing of the leaked hydrazine? etc. etc.

But, oh man, if they can get it back - and there are a few grains from Itokawa on board - I'll be celebrating with some Sake for sure!!

Go Hayabusa and JAXA people!
"It is quick, the �"

Cheers,
Brian

 

[IronRain]

If it survives the reentry, then it is one of the first successful ''sample return'' missions right?

 

[BrianJ]

If it survives the reentry, then it is one of the first successful ''sample return'' missions right?

Apart from the various Lunar sample-return missions, I can think of Genesis (solar wind samples from around L1 point) which crashed on return and contaminated the samples, and Stardust (comet tail samples from Wild2) which was successful.

But Hayabusa would be the first to touch down(briefly) on a body other than the Moon, and return samples. And also the first sample return mission to use ion propulsion, I think.

 

[Notebook]

...or even your "Hayabusa Return Teddybear"
http://www.cafepress.com.au/planetaryshop.441600432


Hayabusa was the first spacecraft I ever made for Orbiter (way back), so I'm rather fond of this mission, especially considering the enormous problems the spacecraft and the JAXA team have overcome during the last 7 years.

I remember I emailed JAXA to see if there was any information available about the trajectory, and received an email back from Prof.Kawaguchi (no less!) with a link and password to access info on the Kawalab database!
Sadly, I've lost the link and password in the intervening years. But you could try contacting them. http://www.hayabusa.isas.jaxa.jp/kawalab/index_e.html
Let us know if you find any state-vectors, I haven't had any luck so far.

I imagine succesful return of the capsule is still very uncertain - will the seperation and parachute mechanisms work after an extra three years in space? Are there still problems with unpredictable outgassing of the leaked hydrazine? etc. etc.

But, oh man, if they can get it back - and there are a few grains from Itokawa on board - I'll be celebrating with some Sake for sure!!

Go Hayabusa and JAXA people!
"It is quick, the �"

Cheers,
Brian

What can I say! Hopefully all will go well, and I'm biased that it will head toward Woomara...and its history.

N.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Spaceflight Now: "Hayabusa on track for landing in two weeks".

BBC News: "Asteroid probe on home straight".

 

[tblaxland]

Hayabusa Captured its Home Earth!
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/topics/2010/0517.shtml

Hayabusa successfully photographed its home Earth and Moon on May 12th last week, by using the CCD sensor on the Star Tracker instrument aboard.

The Earth was seen so brightly that the image contained strong smear in it, but the image clearly separates the Moon from the Earth. (Magnitude of the Earth is -8.3, and that of Moon is -4.6.)

The Earth was seen between Sagittarius and Capricornus.
Hayabusa will continue to voyage back to Earth at the speed of 18 thousand kilometer per hour.

Hayabusa completed TCM-2:
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missions/hayabusa/trj.shtml#new

Hayabusa started its TCM-2 operation from May 24th and completed it on May 27th. TCM-2 is the largest orbit correction among a series of TCMs. The operation was performed almost as planned and the ion engine aboard worked in order.
Currently the rigorous orbit estimation is under way, but the project thinks the TCM-2 successfully guided the spacecraft well within the intended zone for the TCM-3.

Also, there is a new "Final Approach" website: http://hayabusa.jaxa.jp/e/index.html

Finally, in relation to getting state vector data, I emailed Jaxa but have had no response as yet. I did find this page but all the SPICE kernels linked to are quite old.

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/hayabusa-live/?itemid=533&catid=34

2010/06/03 12:25 JST: TCM-3 operation started, shift the target from Earth's outer rim to WPA

JAXA would like to announce that TCM-3 operation has commenced (12:00 June 3rd, 2010 (JST)). It will take around 50 hours for ion thrusters to accelerate.

Hayabusa system is going well.

*TCM : Trajectory Correction Maneuver
*WPA : Woomera Prohibited Area

 

[Notebook]

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Asteroid Explore "HAYABUSA" (MUSES-C) Completed TCM-3 operation,
　　　　　shift the target from Earth's outer rim to WPA

June 5, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would like to announce
that TCM-3 operation was successfully completed (1:44 p.m. June 5th,
2010 (JST)).
By this operation, Hayabusa was guided from Earth's outer rim toward
WPA in Australia.

Hayabusa system is going well.

* TCM : Trajectory Correction Maneuver
* WPA : Woomera Prohibited Area

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/06/20100605_hayabusa_e.html

Marvellous, Woomera in the sights, wish I could see it!

N.

 

[SiberianTiger]

(oops, wrong Japanese probe thread)

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

BBC News: "Asteroid probe aimed toward Earth".

Hayabusa on Twitter.

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missions/hayabusa/trj.shtml

June 8, 2010. Hayabusa project team successfully completed the most critical maneuver TCM-3 from June 3rd to 5th. It made the trajectory flying by the Earth rim to the Woomera Prohibited Area, a designated landing area. Attached is the relevant information regarding the approach geometry. It also presents the reentry objects light trace seen from Glendambo city, South Australia. On June 9th, the final TCM-4 will be conducted to precisely target the landing point near the recovery team already deployed

 

[IronRain]

will the landing be live at a webcast or something?

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

BBC News'/Jonathan Amos' "Spaceman" Blog: "Who thought asteroids were dull, dumb rocks?".