Asteroid Itokawa



After struggling through a series of failures, since its lift-of, Hayabusa’s two reaction wheels were lost, one on July 31st and another on October 3rd. But, its attitude has been maintained by a single wheel together with the chemical engines aboard, and the spacecraft has been operated normally.



** The Hayabusa arrives the target asteroid Itokawa on September 12th of this year. There it made detailed scientific observation by varying its relative position around Itokawa.



** After the disappointing failure of 4 November, the Japanese astronauts did not lose heart. It was on 9 of this month, Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft successfully completed a practice approach to asteroid Itokawa.



** But, this success story was not to last long. With all disappointment, Japan’s space agency has lost contact with the robotic probe, according to a BBC report.



** The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) lost link with asteroid robot Minerva. But, scientists from the 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.



** With all effort, the location the probe was finally pinpointed. Not only that — The Hayabusa space-probe has snatched samples from the asteroid Itokawa. The six-meter probe touched down the asteroid and its computer system shot a metal ball into Itokawa to drive up material for collection.



** It was the first probe ever to collect samples from an asteroid. I did not go wrong with the tense when I said ‘WAS’. The unmanned six-meter (20-foot) craft, supposed to begin returning to Earth in mid-December after the successful landmark mission, faced a problem with one of its thrusters. And because of the trouble, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) failed to set its antenna facing Earth.



** And hence, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) seems to have lost all hopes of the mission being successful. The Hayabusa spacecraft is likely to have failed in its landmark mission. Hopes for its returning to Earth has also dimmed.