Hayabusa 2 is being ready to fly, and if everything goes right, it will blast off in 2014 to collect cosmic material from asteroid 1999 JU3.
The original Hayabusa garnered worldwide attention after the near-miraculous completion of its mission. Following a mishap-laden encounter with its intended goal, the asteroid Itokawa, and the failure not only of its main propulsion systems but also of all but one of its ion guidance propulsion systems, it was initially thought lost in space.
Despite this, in a brilliant display of grit, skill, and improvisation, Japanese mission control successfully guided Hayabusa back to an earth flyby, and dropped a capsule containing material from Itokawa in the Australian desert. (majiroxnews.com)
Hayabusa 2 is being ready to fly, and if everything goes right, it will blast off in 2014 to collect cosmic material from asteroid 1999 JU3.
The original Hayabusa garnered worldwide attention after the near-miraculous completion of its mission. Following a mishap-laden encounter with its intended goal, the asteroid Itokawa, and the failure not only of its main propulsion systems but also of all but one of its ion guidance propulsion systems, it was initially thought lost in space.
Despite this, in a brilliant display of grit, skill, and improvisation, Japanese mission control successfully guided Hayabusa back to an earth flyby, and dropped a capsule containing material from Itokawa in the Australian desert. (majiroxnews.com)