548-metre long asteroid is seen nearly 300 million km (186 million miles) from earth in this handout picture taken November 20, 2005 by the Japanese unmanned Hayabusa and released by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)



It was on a mission to bring back the world’s first rock samples from an asteroid. Yes, it was, as the Japanese space probe failed to touch down on Sunday on its target nearly 300 million km (186 million miles) from earth. But, scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) seem to be diligent enough not to lose heart even after multiple failures. They were trying to pinpoint the location of the probe and considering a second attempt at landing. The unmanned Hayabusa had been scheduled to touch down on the surface of the 548-metre-long 25143 Itokawa for just one second after a voyage of two and a half years. Asteroids, unlike larger space bodies such as the moon, are believed to contain rocks that have remained largely unchanged since the early days of the solar system and can thus offer valuable information about its origins.

Hayabusa’s self-navigating system was programmed to abort the descent in the event that any of a number of factors appeared to put the probe in danger.



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