Eager eyes on asteroid samples
Source: Agencies |
June 15, 2010, Tuesday
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A team of eager scientists flew into the Australian Outback yesterday to recover a Japanese space capsule they hope contains the first-ever asteroid samples that could provide clues into the evolution of the solar system.
The Hayabusa explorer returned to Earth overnight after a seven-year, 6-billion-kilometer journey, burning apart on re-entry in a spectacular fireball just after jettisoning the capsule. It was the first time a spacecraft successfully landed on an asteroid and returned to Earth.
Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which launched the explorer in 2003, said they were "delighted" to recover the capsule, particularly after a number of technical problems delayed Hayabusa's arrival for three years.
"It was an extremely difficult technological challenge, and we did everything to overcome the troubles one by one," he said. "This is an achievement we could make simply because we never gave up hope."
Yesterday, two helicopters took scientists to the capsule's landing site in the Woomera Prohibited Area, a remote military zone 485 kilometers northwest of the South Australian state capital of Adelaide.
It could take many hours to retrieve the capsule and collect samples, which will be taken to Japan for study after a series of measures to protect the capsule and its cargo.
NASA scientist Scott Sandford, one of the team members who will research the samples, said it was a relief to watch the re-entry and see the capsule had successfully detached and parachuted to Earth.
"During a mission critical event like a re-entry, there's a whole series of things you've got to get right to make it work, and they all seemed to have come off without a hitch," said Sandford. "It's a great testament to the design and operation of the spacecraft."
Hayabusa reached an asteroid, Itokawa, in 2005. After taking photo images from all angles of the 500-meter-long asteroid, Hayabusa landed on it twice in late 2005.
The craft was designed to shoot a bullet into the surface of the asteroid that would crush and propel material via a long tube into a collection container. It's not certain the bullet actually fired, scientists say, but the impact of the tube's landing would have forced some material upward and into the container.
"We have perhaps a 50 percent chance" of retrieving samples, Sakamoto said.
The agency said the US$200 million project aimed to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system.
The Hayabusa explorer returned to Earth overnight after a seven-year, 6-billion-kilometer journey, burning apart on re-entry in a spectacular fireball just after jettisoning the capsule. It was the first time a spacecraft successfully landed on an asteroid and returned to Earth.
Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which launched the explorer in 2003, said they were "delighted" to recover the capsule, particularly after a number of technical problems delayed Hayabusa's arrival for three years.
"It was an extremely difficult technological challenge, and we did everything to overcome the troubles one by one," he said. "This is an achievement we could make simply because we never gave up hope."
Yesterday, two helicopters took scientists to the capsule's landing site in the Woomera Prohibited Area, a remote military zone 485 kilometers northwest of the South Australian state capital of Adelaide.
It could take many hours to retrieve the capsule and collect samples, which will be taken to Japan for study after a series of measures to protect the capsule and its cargo.
NASA scientist Scott Sandford, one of the team members who will research the samples, said it was a relief to watch the re-entry and see the capsule had successfully detached and parachuted to Earth.
"During a mission critical event like a re-entry, there's a whole series of things you've got to get right to make it work, and they all seemed to have come off without a hitch," said Sandford. "It's a great testament to the design and operation of the spacecraft."
Hayabusa reached an asteroid, Itokawa, in 2005. After taking photo images from all angles of the 500-meter-long asteroid, Hayabusa landed on it twice in late 2005.
The craft was designed to shoot a bullet into the surface of the asteroid that would crush and propel material via a long tube into a collection container. It's not certain the bullet actually fired, scientists say, but the impact of the tube's landing would have forced some material upward and into the container.
"We have perhaps a 50 percent chance" of retrieving samples, Sakamoto said.
The agency said the US$200 million project aimed to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system.
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