* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: HAYABUSA (MUSES-C) mission

Blobrana · L

Questacon turned on a space day yesterday in anticipation of a world first an asteroid sample being delivered to Earth next weekend courtesy of an unmanned spacecraft.
It's expected the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa spacecraft will land about midnight on Sunday at Woomera, South Australia.
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Blobrana · L

Damaged probe set for Woomera touchdown

An extraordinary space adventure to find the origins of the solar system is about to end, with a pioneering spacecraft scheduled to parachute its precious cargo to Earth after landing on a distant asteroid and scooping up samples of its primordial matter.
Scientists do not expect to find life in the material - and say the risks of contamination are extremely low to non-existent - but they do hope it will give clues to how the solar system formed and evolved.
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Blobrana · L

An unmanned Japanese spacecraft designed to return samples from an asteroid has completed an important step on its journey back to Earth.
Hayabusa achieved the second and largest of four engine firings designed to guide the probe back home.
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Blobrana · L

University of Southern Queensland academics are usually encouraged to reach for the stars, but Associate Professor David Buttsworth took it quite literally.
Professor Buttsworth was over the moon to receive an invitation to take part in an international research project lead by NASA.
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Blobrana · L

Japanese space ball to land in Australia

A basketball-sized Japanese spaceship will end its epic two billion kilometre journey with a shooting-star arrival in Australia.
Federal Science Minister Kim Carr said Australia would use protected Defence land at Woomera in South Australia as the landing site for the spaceship's seven-year journey in June.
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alex · Member

March 27:
Completed the second trajectory shifting by ion engines

April 6:
TCM-0 implemented the initial guidance to the outer rim of the Earth.

About 39 days prior to reentry:
TCM-1 to guide to the outer rim of the Earth

About 15 days prior to reentry:
TCM-2 to guide to the outer rim of the Earth

About 7 days prior to reentry:
TCM-3 to guide to Australia
(Earth's outer rim to the expected land area)

About 3 days prior to reentry:
TCM-4 to guide to Australia (more detailed guidance)

About a day prior to reentry: Increase capsule temperature

About 3 hours prior to reentry: Capsule separation

Reentry: around 11:00 p.m. (JST or 2:00 p.m. UTC)

One hour after reentry: Capsule landing

*TCM: Trajectory Correction Maneuver

Source Jaxa

Blobrana · L

Sample Recovery Capsule aboard "HAYABUSA"

Sample Recovery Capsule aboard "HAYABUSA" will reenter into the atmosphere at around 14:00 UTC on June 13, 2010, at Woomera, Australia.
Source

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Blobrana · L

Australia will be part of a major advance in space discovery when the Hayabusa spacecraft touches down at Woomera in June.

The Hayabusa is on track to become the first spacecraft to return material from an asteroid to Earth. Australian authorities are working with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to successfully land the Hayabusa in the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) in outback South Australia.
The WPA is managed by the Department of Defence and is the largest land-based test range in the world. Defence is providing crucial support to JAXA for Hayabusas re-entry and recovery.
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Blobrana · L

The probe made two landings on Itokawa, each of about 30 minutes, but there is no evidence it was able to gather the few grams of rock which was its objective.
And we won't know for certain until around midnight on June 13 when Hayabusa will re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and parachutes gently, scientists hope, to the ground at Woomera in South Australia.
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