[meteorite-list] Japan Probe To Snag Sample Of Asteroid

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:35 2004
Message-ID: <200305051552.IAA19332_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/05/05/japan.asteroid.reut/

Japan probe to snag sample of asteroid
Reuters
May 5, 2003

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan is
set to launch a space probe later this
week that will bring rock samples back to
earth from an asteroid, a round-trip
journey of about four years, a leading
Japanese daily said on Monday.

The MUSES-C probe will blast into space
on an M-5 rocket from Japan's Tanegashima
launch center on May 9, the daily Mainichi
Shimbun newspaper said.

If all goes well, the probe will arrive at the
asteroid, known as 1998 SF36, in June 2005,
and then descend to its surface to take rock
samples before heading back to Earth. It is
set to return in June 2007.

Officials at the Institute of Space and
Astronautical Sciences, the research center
in charge of the project, were not available
for comment.

Japan's space program has been plagued
with the problems in the past. The last M-5
launch in February 2000 ended in failure
when the rocket veered off course shortly
after lift-off, resulting in the loss of a
satellite.

But a recent string of successes with the
larger H-2A rocket, culminating in the late
March launch of Japan's first two spy satellites,
has boosted hopes that the program is now on a
steady course.
Received on Mon 05 May 2003 11:52:10 AM PDT