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  [Discuss] JAXA Hayabusa2 asteroid mission (Page 1)

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Author Topic:   [Discuss] JAXA Hayabusa2 asteroid mission
Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-25-2013 10:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This thread is intended for comments and questions regarding the updates under: JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid sample mission.

Hayabusa 2, as a successor to JAXA's first Hayabusa mission to asteroid Itokawa, will explore asteroid 1993 JU3 Ryugu, collect samples and return them to Earth.

SpaceAholic
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posted 10-25-2013 10:09 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Telegraph reports that Japan's space agency has successfully test-fired a "space cannon" designed to launch a projectile into an asteroid as part of the search for the origins of the universe.
The device will be aboard the Hayabusa-2 space probe that is scheduled to take off in 2014 and rendezvous with an asteroid identified as 1999JU3 that orbits between Earth and Mars in 2018.

Once in position close to the asteroid, the space cannon will detach itself and remotely fire a 4lb metal projectile into the surface of the miniature planet.

"An artificial crater that can be created by the device is expected to be a small one, a few meters in diameter, but... by acquiring samples from the surface that is exposed by the collision, we can get fresh samples that are less weathered by the space environment or heat," the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a statement.

Robert Pearlman
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The payload fairing that will shield Hayabusa 2 during its launch will be recovered, divided and distributed through a lottery to spectators as souvenirs, Asahi Shimbun reports.
"They (the pieces) are part of the rocket that will transport the important Hayabusa 2 into space and return back to Earth, so we want to give them to the spectators," said an official of the Minamitane town government.

The part in question is the payload fairing of the 26th H2-A rocket. The fairing, located at the top of the structure, is made from aluminum alloy and shields the probe from the impact of pressure and heat as it rises into the cosmos.

Although the parts are usually processed as industrial waste after such missions are completed, the host town for the launch decided to take on the parts after blastoff.

...The debris will be cut into pieces measuring 5 by 4 by 3 centimeters and given to spectators as mementos by lottery.

Town officials anticipate that around 300 of the gifts will be available, depending on how much of the aluminum can be retrieved from the sea.

Blackarrow
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posted 12-03-2014 06:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched the Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample mission on Tuesday (Dec. 22) at 11:22 p.m. EST (0422 GMT Dec. 3) atop a H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.
Well done, JAXA! The more missions to small solar system bodies the better.

SpaceAholic
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posted 06-14-2018 10:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Japan's Hayabusa 2 is closing in on a mineable asteroid.
Hayabusa 2 has already traveled almost two billion miles to reach Ryugu since its launch in 2014, with less than a thousand left to go—and it's getting closer by the day; on Monday, JAXA posted a pair of images of the asteroid as seen from the probe's onboard camera.

Blackarrow
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posted 08-16-2018 12:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The latest images of asteroid Ryuga make it look rather like a sugar-cube, or (worryingly for Hyabusa!) like the warning beacon in the Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Manoeuvre."

The actual images of Ryugu are remarkably similar to the artist's impression shown at the top of this thread. Perhaps the artist was psychic, but on a more serious note, the pre-launch predictions of Ryugu's approximate shape and size seem to show that it belongs to a type of rapidly-rotating small asteroid which includes Bennu, the target for NASA's OSIRIS-REx, so it will be very interesting to see the Bennu images later this year for comparison.

I hope the designers and controllers of Hyabusa-2 and OSIRIS-REx see this not as rivalry between two camps, but as a golden opportunity to compare two asteroids of a broadly-similar size.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 09-12-2018 02:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hayabusa 2 has aborted its first descent test. From JAXA on Twitter:
Hayabusa 2 is now rising after stopping its descent. Spacecraft status is normal. At an altitude of about 600m, descent was autonomously stopped, likely due to the distance measurement by the laser altimeter (LIDAR) becoming impossible due to the low reflectance of Ryugu.

The spacecraft is now returning to the home position (about 20km from the centre of Ryugu). From tomorrow, we will revise the descent procedure, including reviewing the LIDAR settings.

The rehearsal was in preparation for the probe's first sample collection:
The first touchdown by Hayabusa2 to collect samples from the asteroid surface is planned for the end of October. The first rehearsal for this operation will be held from September 10-12.

"Touchdown 1 Rehearsal 1" is abbreviated to TD1-R1. At TD1-R1, the Hayabusa2 will approach the surface of Ryugu to an altitude of less than 40 m. The spacecraft will then rise without landing.

The purpose of this rehearsal is to monitor the operation of the spacecraft during touchdown and investigate the safety of the touchdown candidate sites by imaging the surface of Ryugu in their vicinity from a low altitude.

Blackarrow
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posted 09-25-2018 10:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
We have confirmed both rovers landed on the surface of asteroid Ryugu. The two rovers are in good condition and are transmitting images and data.
How can I put this delicately? Is that it? Unless there are images that haven't yet been released, I haven't seen any surface views. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that these two micro-rovers suffered a similar fate to that of Philae and bounced off the asteroid, but without the saving grace of a return.

I do understand that it is very difficult to land on an asteroid, and the mission has yielded a great deal of fascinating data, but it would have been nice to see an explanation for the lack of any further surface images.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 09-25-2018 10:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
By all indications from JAXA, the rovers landed and are operating as expected. From the mission status page today (Sept. 25)
By September 22, images and data confirmed that both rovers had landed on Ryugu and that at least one was hopping and moving. We published a press release on September 22, releasing the situation of MINERVA-II1 and the acquired images. The Project Members were also very impressed by these images sent from MINERVA-II1.

Blackarrow
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posted 09-26-2018 07:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My point was that if the probes are still operating on the surface of the asteroid and have sent more (and better) images, where are those images? Five days and nothing but those first three images of indifferent quality.

If they tell us: "We did our best, but that's all there is from these two landers," I would say, "Well done, nice try, better luck with the third lander." It's the absence of clarification which is annoying.

However, I understand there is a press conference tomorrow, so perhaps we shall find out then...

Blackarrow
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posted 09-27-2018 06:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That's more like it! New images, from the surface of asteroid Ryugu, now released. Well done, Japan!

Intriguing. One could be forgiven for concluding that Ryugu is a big rock-pile, as many have suggested.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 09-28-2018 12:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When Hayabusa2 descended towards Ryugu for the MINERVA-II1 deployment operation, the ONC-T (Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic) captured images of the asteroid at the highest resolution to date.

spaced out
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posted 09-28-2018 03:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great image. Makes you just want to reach out and grab a mixture of rock samples — a few of those lighter pieces and a mix of the regular dark ones — to put in the old Contingency Sample bag.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-02-2018 10:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From JAXA on Twitter:
After checking the data sent from Hayabusa2, we can confirm that the MASCOT separated from the spacecraft as planned. Hayabusa2 is now ascending and the state of the spacecraft is normal.

MASCOT has a lithium primary battery that will last approximately 16 hours. This is about two asteroid days on Ryugu! Once the battery runs out, the lander operation will end.

Robert Pearlman
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From the MASCOT Lander on Twitter:
And then I found myself in a place like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery and danger! I landed on asteroid Ryugu!

Hello Earth, hello Hayabusa2. I promised to send you some pictures of Ryugu so here’s a shot I took during my descent. Can you spot my shadow?

Blackarrow
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posted 10-03-2018 09:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When MASCOT landed around 2.00am GMT last night, it seems touchdown was successful, but at an "unfavourable orientation" requiring a premature "hop" to a second site which seems satisfactory. That may explain the long period of radio-silence from mission control after the landing.

As I write this, MASCOT's battery will last around three-and-a-half more hours. I hope we see some surface images soon.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-03-2018 10:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From the MASCOT lander on Twitter, as of about 30 minutes ago:
I've been on asteroid Ryugu for a little over 12 hours conducting experiments non-stop! Now I'm working with MicrOmega and MARA!
MicrOmega is a hyperspectral infrared microscope for in situ mineralogical analyses of the ground, developed by the IAS (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale). MARA is a radiometer to determine the surface temperature and the thermal inertia of the asteroid, developed by DLR.

Robert Pearlman
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From the MASCOT lander on Twitter, as of about 10 minutes ago:
I've taken measurements with all my experiments, and my battery is holding up! Still going strong!

Blackarrow
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posted 10-03-2018 08:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I read somewhere that the nominal life of the battery would end during a Ryugu "night," but if it lasted into the next "day" it might keep going a bit longer. But it cannot recharge, and will run of charge, in hours not days.

Blackarrow
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posted 10-04-2018 11:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It seems that (see above) is exactly what happened. Apparently, the battery lasted just over 17 hours (see discussions between Scotty and Capt. Kirk about how to appear to be a miracle-worker...).

Anyway, the data has all been transmitted to Hayabusa 2, so now we just have to wait. (I understand we're still waiting for the raw imaging data from Philae from 2014.)

Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-05-2018 10:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From the MASCOT lander on Twitter:
Check this out! I took this picture when I was almost on Ryugu's surface. Look at how sunlight is reflected off me. What a dark surface!

Blackarrow
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posted 10-07-2018 02:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And here we are, almost 5 (Earth) days after MASCOT's safe landing on Ryugu, but still no images taken on the surface of the asteroid released to the public. (Unless I have misunderstood, all images released to date were taken either by the mother-ship, or before landing).

I'm actually not sure if any of my taxes went via ESA to the German and French controllers of MASCOT, but there must surely be French and German taxpayers who would like to see the results of their contributions.

It is very high-handed of these people to withhold the images. Detailed scientific results - OK. But how would it hurt them to release a sample of surface images?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-07-2018 03:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
ESA, and DLR more specifically, generally wait until having initial scientific results to report before releasing images.

In this case, there is/was also a delay as the data needed to be transferred from Hayabusa2 in between other operations.

Blackarrow
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posted 10-07-2018 09:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Point 1: I question their policy. It's a bad policy because the people who paid for the images aren't being allowed to see the images. It smacks of elitism and a lack of regard for their taxpayers. It also robs the mission of the newsworthiness which only images can provide. I assume that the French and German scientists don't see public support as important. They should take lessons in PR from NASA, SpaceX - and indeed from JAXA which has kept us supplied with spectacular images from Hayabusa 2.

Point 2: I accept that some delay was inevitable for the reasons you give, but not [seven] days and counting. There is an image taken inside the control centre which appears to show an image from the surface of the asteroid up on a screen. At the very least they could have issued that. Instead, they seem to prefer to tantalise followers of the project. That seems to me to be the very antithesis of what science is supposed to be about.

Blackarrow
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posted 10-11-2018 03:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Seriously, it is now almost nine days since MASCOT landing on the asteroid Ryugu, a magnificent achievement, but the people who did it have still not condescended to let the hoi polloi see the images which we know were taken. What planet are these people living on? Just who do they think they are?

oly
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Given the size of these small spacecraft and the fact that the onboard cameras would be no more than the equivalent to old phone camera technology, and that the cameras are at almost ground level, it is amazing that any images have been returned.

It looks like there is a lot of lens distortion from the images shown so far, because the focus shift across each image is quite bad. It may take some time to process and correct the images, if at all possible.

The greatest feat of this mission is the successful intercept, rendezvous and landing small probes in such at low gravity field at such long distance from home. Any image that can be offered as proof is a real bonus.

Blackarrow
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posted 10-15-2018 12:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The images with obvious lens distortion were taken by the first two micro-rovers, and in spite of imperfections those images were released quite quickly.

The problem lies with the MASCOT images, which are, apparently, being jealously guarded by the Germans and the French. After 12 days, and counting, I am unaware of any release of images from the surface of Ryugu by the more substantial and capable MASCOT lander. Several images have been released showing views above the surface, but not on the surface.

As far as I know, the only image from the surface appeared on the view-screen at the German control-centre. It's hard to tell from a TV image in a larger image, but it looks perfectly good quality. There seems no reason to hold back the surface images except for selfish proprietorial reasons, which hardly reflects the spirit of scientific exploration.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-17-2019 07:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) release
Locations on the surface of Ryugu have been named!

Place names for locations on the surface of Ryugu were discussed by Division F (Planetary Systems and Bioastronomy) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (hereafter IAU WG) and approved in December 2018. We will introduce the place names in this article and the background to their selection.

As the appearance of Ryugu gradually became clear during the approach phase in June 2018, we used nicknames amongst the Hayabsua2 Project team to distinguish regions of the terrain. (For example, the crater now named "Urashima" was referred to as the Death Star crater in Star Wars!) However, in order to introduce Ryugu to the world, it is necessary to have names that are intentionally recognized rather than nicknames, which can be referred to in scientific papers and other articles. Therefore, the discussion regarding naming the Ryugu surface topology began within the team.

To name a place on a celestial body in the Solar System, you must first decide on a theme. For example, the theme for places on Venus is the "names of goddesses". During discussions between the domestic and overseas project members, suggestions such as "names of castles around the world", "word for 'dragon' in different languages" and the "names of deep-sea creatures" were proposed for the place name theme on Ryugu. After an intense debate, the theme was selected to be "names that appear in stories for children" and a theme proposal was put to the IAU WG. The proposal was accepted on September 25, after which the discussion moved to selecting the topographical features to be named and the choice of name.

Names cannot be attributed to any location. Instead, there are restrictions on the places that can be assigned an official name involving considerations such as scientific importance or size on the celestial body. With this in mind, volunteers from the project members as well as planetary geology experts (hereinafter referred to as the Place Name Core Members ※1) discussed the place selection and completed the application forms for naming based on the exploration data. On October 12, we proposed 13 place names to the IAU WG. After additional discussion with the WG, 9 were accepted as proposed by the team and the remaining 4 names were approved after an amendment suggested by the IAU.

The surface of celestial bodies has a range of different topologies. We applied to give names to four different topology types on the Ryugu surface. The first type is "dorsum" which originates from the Latin for peak or ridge. The second type is "crater" which are familiar structures on the Moon and asteroids. Then "fossa" meaning grooves or trenches and finally the Latin word "saxum" for the rocks and boulders that are a main characteristic of the Ryugu terrain. Saxum is actually a new classification of terrain type that we applied to introduce due to the nature of Ryugu.

Numerous boulders are distributed on the surface of Ryugu. Regardless of where you look, there are rocks, rocks and more rocks. This is a major characteristic of Ryugu and continues to make plans for the touchdown operation of the spacecraft difficult. Additionally, spectroscopic observations revealed that the giant boulder (Otohime saxum) at the south pole has not only a substantial size, but also a distinct visible light spectrum that reveals materials and surface conditions that are different from the surrounding areas. Since this boulder is the most important topographical feature for understanding the formation history of Ryugu, the Project strongly hoped to name it. However, there was no precedent for boulder nomenclature and even the name type did not exist (during the exploration of the first Hayabusa mission, naming the huge boulder protruding from asteroid Itokawa was not allowed). We therefore proposed the type name for boulders at the same time as applying for the place names. Since terrain type names are usually Latin, we proposed "saxum" (meaning rocks and stones in Latin) as the type name for boulders. The IAU accepted this nomenclature for boulders with a few conditions (such as the boulder must be 1% or more of the diameter of the celestial body) and the type name that we suggested was adopted (!). This is how the new terrain type "saxum" was born.

Figure 1 shows a map of Ryugu with the place names labelled. Additionally, Figure 2 shows the location of the places on images of Ryugu taken from four different directions. In these figures, the north pole of Ryugu is at the image top. Please keep in mind that the north pole of Ryugu is in the same direction as the south pole on Earth, as Ryugu rotates in the opposite direction. Table 1 (see here) shows a list of the place names.

Above: Map of Ryugu showing the place names. Trinitas and Alice's Wonderland are nicknames of the MINERVA-II1 and MASCOT landing sites, respectively, and not place names recognized by the IAU.

Above: The location of place names on Ryugu.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-17-2019 07:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
JAXA update on Hayabusa 2's upcoming first touchdown on Ryugu:
On February 6, we held a press briefing at the JAXA Tokyo office to announce the touchdown time as February 22 around 8:00am JST [6:00 p.m. EST Feb. 21 or 0000 GMT Feb 22] and the touchdown location.

The location is an area named L08-E1, just beside the target marker landing. Because the width is only about 6m [20 feet] here, very precise navigation guidance is necessary, but our examination has confirmed that this is possible.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-20-2019 10:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From JAXA on Twitter:
We began the spacecraft descent operation today (2/21) at 06:30 JST. At the moment, we are still in the judgment phase of deciding whether to begin descent and the spacecraft remains at the home position at an altitude of 20km. The spacecraft's condition is normal.

Today (2/21) 12: 36 (JST), the decision to begin the touchdown operation was declared as "GO". While the descent start time is delayed about 5 hours, the speed to 5km altitude will be increased slightly so there is no change to the scheduled time for touchdown.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-21-2019 10:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
JAXA webcast for Hayabusa 2's first touchdown on Ryugu:

Robert Pearlman
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Hayabusa 2 successfully touched down on Ryugu, fired its projectile to collect samples and is now ascending from the asteroid.
2/22 at 7:49 JST. The Doppler data showed the behaviour as expected and cheers went up with a clap!

2/22 at 7:48 JST. We have confirmed the spacecraft began to rise as planned. This was announced by the Project Manager and everyone clapped again.

2/22 at 8:42 JST. The following has been confirmed at Gate 5:

  • Projectile was command to fire.
  • Normal sequence.
  • Spacecraft state is normal.
Based on this, we determined touchdown was successful! A detailed analysis will now be done.
First close-up image of Ryugu taken at 98 feet (30 meters) as Hayabusa 2 was ascending from the touchdown.

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posted 03-05-2019 09:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From JAXA on Twitter:
One small hand of mankind has reached for a new, little "star."

This is an image sequence captured by CAM-H during the touchdown of Hayabusa2 last month. This camera was built and installed using donations from the public and it has now captured a historical moment for all of us. Thank you everyone, for your support!

Mike Dixon
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posted 08-18-2020 10:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike Dixon   Click Here to Email Mike Dixon     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Hayabusa2 re-entry capsule will return to Earth in South Australia on December 6, 2020 (Japan Time and Australian Time). The landing site will be the Woomera Prohibited Area.
Most readers would have little idea just how sparsely SA is populated. Nice to welcome the probe back from her journey.

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posted 12-04-2020 10:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
JAXA video

Robert Pearlman
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JAXA video

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-05-2020 06:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From the Australian Space Agency (via Twitter):
Samples are on their way for analysis at the Woomera Test Range.

Jurg Bolli
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posted 12-05-2020 09:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jurg Bolli   Click Here to Email Jurg Bolli     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A stunning achievement, congratulations to the team. I look forward to reading about the science.

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Congratulations to JAXA!!!

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NASA photo release
First Sample of Asteroid Ryugu Arrives at NASA Johnson

NASA recently received its first sample of asteroid Ryugu, which was returned to Earth last December by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft. This is one of the first samples to leave Japan for preliminary investigation.

As deputy leader of the mineralogy-petrology subteam for the preliminary analysis effort, Mike Zolensky was one of the first scientists to examine the sample to determine its basic nature. Alongside Zolensky, Jangmi Han from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, and James Martinez of the Structural Engineering Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston worked together to complete an investigation of the sample.

Sample analyses were performed in the Scanning Electron Microscopy Lab in Johnson's Structural Engineering Division. This was successfully completed within five days.

Zolensky is one of a hundred investigators worldwide to receive a sample from JAXA. Preliminary sample analyses are continuing at Johnson.

Studying carbonaceous asteroids like Ryugu could help scientists better understand how the solar system formed.


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Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a





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