[meteorite-list] Hayabusa Returns - Asteroid secrets come down toearth

From: Katsu OHTSUKA <ohtsuka_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:04:02 +0900
Message-ID: <52ED73240A334B12A49C0D2FF2A897F7_at_KATSU>

The Japanese newspaper (Yomiuri) article with great re-entry bolide shot! is
here:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/science/news/20100613-OYT1T00818.htm

Katsu OHTSUKA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Kuyken" <info at meteorites.com.au>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 11:33 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Hayabusa Returns - Asteroid secrets come down
toearth


> Hi all,
>
> This first report came through from the Sydney Morning Herald about 20
> mins ago.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> http://www.smh.com.au/national/asteroid-secrets-come-down-to-earth-20100613-y64j.html
>
> Asteroid secrets come down to earth DEBORAH SMITH SCIENCE EDITOR
>
> June 14, 2010
>
> THE Falcon became a fiery phoenix last night.
>
> After a seven-year odyssey in space, the unmanned Japanese spacecraft
> Hayabusa, or Falcon, burnt up in the atmosphere, making it the first probe
> to land on an asteroid and return to Earth.
>
> But its legacy could live on, perhaps helping protect the planet from
> asteroid impacts, if dust from the space rock it visited can be retrieved
> from the spacecraft's cargo capsule.
>
> Advertisement: Story continues belowThe basketball-sized cargo capsule was
> released from the spacecraft just before 9pm and was set to land by
> parachute at Woomera Prohibited Area about midnight last night. In
> preparation for the touch down, the Stuart Highway was blocked from just
> south of Coober Pedy to the north of Glendambo.
>
> Hayabusa was launched in May 2003 and touched down twice in November 2005
> on Itokawa, a 540-metre long asteroid about 300 million kilometres away,
> twice as far as the Sun.
>
> Fuel leakages, engine breakdowns and loss of communication delayed its
> return by three years. But the Japanese team was able to combine parts
> still working on two engines to bring the crippled craft home.
>
> The Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry, Richard Marles,
> said it was a huge technological achievement. ''If you've got any
> affection for the little Aussie battler, you've got to love the Hayabusa
> spacecraft.''
>
> The associate executive director of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration
> Agency, Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, said yesterday he was nervous but excited
> about the return. ''Today is the greatest moment for us.''
>
> Japanese, NASA and Australian scientists flying in a specially equipped
> Douglas DC-8 aircraft were hoping to capture pictures and make
> measurements of the re-entry, with the aim of designing better heat
> shields for future space probes.
>
> With the capsule travelling at more than 12 kilometres a second on
> re-entry, its carbon heat shield would have experienced temperatures of
> more than 2800 degrees, while the gas surrounding the capsule would have
> been hotter than the surface of the Sun, at about 7200 degrees.
>
> The Japanese team will check on the capsule's condition this morning and
> Aboriginal landowners will be among the first to see it.
>
> Understanding asteroids will be necessary if we need to deflect one coming
> our way.
>
> ______________________________________________
> Visit the Archives at
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Sun 13 Jun 2010 11:04:02 AM PDT