[meteorite-list] Japan Launches Asteroid Mission (Hayabusa 2)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2014 17:14:02 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201412060114.sB61E2t6011402_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/04dec_hayabusa2/

Japan Launches Asteroid Mission
NASA Science News
December 4, 3014

On Dec. 3, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
successfully launched its Hayabusa2 mission to rendezvous with an
asteroid, land a small probe plus three mini rovers on its surface, and
then return samples to Earth. NASA and JAXA are cooperating on the
science of the mission and NASA will receive a portion of the Hayabusa2
sample in exchange for providing Deep Space Network communications and
navigation support for the mission.

Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" is a successor of "Hayabusa" (MUSES-C),
which revealed several new technologies and returned to Earth in June
2010. Image Credit: JAXA and Akihiro Ikeshita

Hayabusa2 builds on lessons learned from JAXA's initial Hayabusa
mission, which collected samples from a small asteroid named Itokawa and
returned them to Earth in June 2010. Hayabusa2's target is a 750
meter-wide asteroid named 1999 JU3, because of the year when it was
discovered by the NASA-sponsored Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research
project, Lexington, Massachusetts. This is a C-type asteroid which are
thought to contain more organic material than other asteroids.
Scientists hope to better understand how the solar system evolved by
studying samples from these asteroids.

"We think of C-type asteroids as being less altered than others," says
Lucy McFadden, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Bringing that material back and being
able to look at it in the lab - I think it's going to be very exciting."

On Nov. 17, NASA and JAXA signed a Memorandum of Understanding for
cooperation on the Hayabusa2 mission and NASA's Origins, Spectral
Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security - Regolith Explorer
(OSIRIS-REx) mission to mutually maximize their missions' results.
OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in 2016. It will be the first U.S.
asteroid sample return mission. OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with the
500-meter-sized asteroid Bennu in 2019 for detailed reconnaissance and a
return of samples to Earth in 2023.

Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx will further strengthen the two space agencies'
relationship in asteroid exploration.

The missions will also help NASA choose its target for the first-ever
mission to capture and redirect an asteroid. NASA's Asteroid Redirect
Mission (ARM) in the 2020s will help NASA test new technologies needed
for future human missions for the Journey to Mars.

Comets and asteroids contain material that formed in a disk surrounding
our infant sun. The hundreds of thousands of known asteroids are
leftovers from material that didn't coalesce into a planet or moon in
the inner solar system. The thousands of known comets likely formed in
the outer solar system, far from the sun's heat, where water exists as ice.

Larger objects like dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres also formed in the
outer solar system, where water ice is stable. Pluto and Ceres will soon
be explored by NASA missions New Horizons and Dawn, respectively.
Asteroids and comets are of unique interest to scientists, though,
because they could hold clues to the origins of life on Earth.

These missions have greatly increased scientific knowledge on Earth
about our solar system and the history of our planet. Many scientists
suspect we could find organic material in asteroids and comets, like
amino acids - critical building blocks for life, which could help answer
questions about the origins of life on Earth. These questions drive us
to continue exploring the intriguing asteroids and comets of our solar
system.

Multiple missions that are operating in space or in development by NASA
and international partners could bring us much closer to answering that
question in our lifetimes and also help identify Near-Earth Objects that
might pose a risk of Earth impact, and further help inform developing
options for planetary defense.

Follow the latest missions and discoveries at:
http://www.nasa.gov/asteroid-and-comet-watch/

Credits:

Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips
Credit: Science at NASA
Received on Fri 05 Dec 2014 08:14:02 PM PST