Topic: Japanese Probe Apparently Lost in Space While Practicing for Rendezvous With Ast

[Khalee1]

Japanese Probe Apparently Lost in Space While Practicing for Rendezvous With Asteroid 
 

In this photo released by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the part of asteroid Itokawa is seen with the shadow of probe Hayabusa on top right Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005. The Japan's space agency suffered another glitch in its mission to collect surface samples from asteroid Itokawa and retrun to Earth when a can-sized robot lander apparently became lost in space while attempting a practice landing. The rehearsal landing followed an earlier attempt that was aborted due to mechanical trouble, but the space agency said it will go ahead with actual landings on the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25. (AP Photo/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, HO)
11-13-2005 5:43 PM
By HANS GREIMEL, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO --  Japan's space agency suffered another glitch in its mission to collect surface samples from an asteroid and return to Earth when a can-sized robot lander apparently became lost in space while attempting a practice touch down.

The rehearsal landing followed an earlier attempt that was aborted due to mechanical trouble, but the space agency said it is still targeting actual landings on the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25.

The Hayabusa probe successfully released the Minerva surface-exploring robot on Saturday, but Minerva appeared to start drifting away from the asteroid's surface, according to a release from JAXA, Japan's space agency. Minerva was expected to land and hop around on the asteroid's surface collecting data with three small color cameras.

"Unfortunately, it appears Minerva did not recognize the surface," JAXA said.

Minerva was still in radio contact with Hayabusa late Saturday, and mission controllers were trying to find out more about its condition and location, JAXA said. Officials, however, expected the transmissions to give out soon, Kyodo News agency reported.

"It is very disappointing that it did not work out nicely," JAXA official Junichiro Kawaguchi was quoted as saying by Kyodo. "We found out various things about the asteroid, so we will study the data and hope it will lead to the successful landing of Hayabusa."

Another procedure Saturday to collect surface data with laser altimeter was largely successful, the agency said.

JAXA hopes Hayabusa, launched in May 2003, will be the world's first two-way trip to an asteroid. A NASA probe collected data for two weeks from the Manhattan-sized asteroid Eros in 2001, but did not return with samples.

Hayabusa has until early December before it must leave orbit and begin its 290 million kilometer (180 million mile) journey back to Earth. It is expected to return to Earth and land in the Australian Outback in June 2007.

The asteroid is named after Hideo Itokawa, the father of rocket science in Japan, and is orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars. It is 690 meters (2,300 feet) long and 300 meters (1,000 feet) wide and has a gravitational pull only one-one-hundred-thousandth of Earth's, characteristics that make landing a probe there difficult.

JAXA scrubbed a rehearsal landing earlier this month, when Hayabusa had trouble finding a landing spot. The probe had an earlier glitch with one of its three gyroscopes.

Japan was the fourth country to launch a satellite, in 1972, and announced earlier this year a major project to send its first astronauts into space and set up a base on the moon by 2025.

Examining asteroid samples is expected to help unlock the secrets of how celestial bodies formed because their surfaces are believed to have remained relatively unchanged over the eons, unlike those of larger bodies such the planets or moons, JAXA said.


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 

[Nemesis]

Fortunately it is only the "lander" element that is lost.  The return craft and its sample collection ability is intact.

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

The Hayabusa probe touched down for only a few seconds on the faraway asteroid _ long enough to collect powder from its surface _ and lifted off again to transmit data to mission controllers, said Kiyotaka Yashiro, a spokesman for JAXA, Japan's space agency.

"The initial movements and operations look very good,'' Yashiro said. "The process of sampling also seems to have gone very well.

More data confirming the mission's success is expected later in the day after scientists have examined additional transmissions from the probe, Yashiro said.

But JAXA won't know if Hayabusa actually collected surface samples until it returns to Earth. It is expected to touch down in the Australian Outback in June 2007.

Appears to be at least a partial success.  Though we won't know the final details until after the June 2007 landing.