Mission: Hayabusa 2 Options

[spdf]

JAXA wants to continue with Hayabusa 2. However there is/was a huge fight about the budget. Main problem was the budget for the launch vehicle. 2 months ago or so there was a report which said, that JAXA had to find another launch vehicle or the project gets cancelled. Now the Italian space agency played saviour and overed the VEGA. So finally we might see another Hayabusa in 2011.


It was mentioned here:
http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/080110Final_IPEWG-ProgramBook.pdf

[Hungry4info]

Some diagrams and what-not.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[pandaneko]

Some diagrams and what-not.

There was a brief TV news coverage on Hayabusa 2 on NHK here yesterday. It said that in order to accelerate the development of Hayabusa 2 a new project manager was appointed. He is Prof Hitoshi Kuninaka of JAXA (that is ISAS). He was apparrently responsible for the development of ion engines used on Hayabusa 1.

Prof Makoto Yoshikawa of NAO (National Astronomical Observatory) is no longer the PM for Hayabusa 2 ? In any event the news also said that fabrication of Hayabusa 2 components is progressing rapidly in time for sending it out in December 2014.

The TV also showed the impact simulation, very briefly, 2 ,3 seconds. There was a clear and large fireball in mid air (it did look like an explostion, not a firing of a projectile) , and also an explosive impact on the asteroid surface. I am not sure if there was a time lapse between them as the video was so brief. I am more and more confused by this...

P

[Blue Sky]

Is Prof. Kawaguchi involved in Hayabusa-2 at all?

[pandaneko]

Is Prof. Kawaguchi involved in Hayabusa-2 at all?

Good question and I am even more confused by all this. My Google alert today (local Kyodo Tsushin, a news provider like AFP), I think, gave me an e-mail (2012/09/15 16:56) and it says Hayabusa 2 is progressing steadily under the direction of Prof Makoto Yoshikawa. My earlier posting was based on the NHK news which I saw on 17 September.

Since I am not exactly sure about the difference between PI and PM both of them may still be involed, but probably not Prof Kawaguchi.

This Google alert of 15 September also gave me a clue to what I had been wondering about. It says that a mass (not an explosive mass) will collide with the asteroid by the force of an explosion. This may be in line with the simulation video I saw.

There was a fireball in mid-air and it was spherical in shape. The explosion on the ground was hemispherical. This, to me, seems like a very inefficient of digging a hole in the crater. Perhaps, there is a very good reason?

P