Hayabusa Post-Landing & Science Results Options

[pandaneko]

Thanks, read this with much interest. I was at Imperial, many many moons ago!

Pandaneko

[Paolo]

An interesting 2-part interview on Hayabusa 2. It turns out the cratering experiment will use explosives. I am wondering what kind of sample contamination this could create...

[centsworth_II]

Yikes! Just saw this on Astro0's Twitter. Spirit photobombs Professor Kawaguchi!

[pandaneko]

Can 2's news just in, by the Yomiuri newspaper.

Hundreds of larger grains were found in there, 0.1mm to 0.01mm. JAXA announced this on 29th November.

They are apparently much larger than those already found in can 1 (except those 60 large grains in can 1). They turned the second can upside down and gave it a slight shock and those grains dropped out! It must mean they are large? and heavy enough?

They are thought to be from Itokawa, mostly, and they will undergo EM analysis.

Pandaneko

[centsworth_II]

Fantastic! What a mission this has been! All the engineering challanges overcome, the science data collected at Itokawa, and now the mission will live on for years as this rich haul - given the circumstances - is investigated.

[nprev]

YES!!!

Very encouraging. There may be a considerable number of decent-sized grains still within the container, stuck to the sides electrostatically.

Too bad so many people left the theatre before the credits started rolling; looks like they're gonna be the best part!

[brellis]

Sounds like some of the grains are big enough to look Itokawan to the naked eye!

[nprev]

Interesting article from Japan's Mainichi Daily News:

-Apparently, a software (command?) error may have placed the sampling pellet gun in safe mode & prevented firing.

-Approx. 1500 particles recovered to date; not sure if that includes those announced yesterday from the second canister (bit I doubt it.)

[pandaneko]

Fristly, a little moe info, at JAXA they are apparently very pleased that those larger grains, each of them can be separately put into a glass tube for transporting them to international communities.

Secondly, we will know the fate of Hayabusa 2 next month when they announce the outline for next year's budget.

Now, I have got some new ideas for grabbing the grains for Hayabusa 2. I talked about sticky tapes and magnets earlier. My new ideas are,

1. A slab of dry ice with lots of holes in it and when placed on the ground we vacuum clean the surface. I understand the gound is hot enough.

2. A rod with a gap at the top, the top end may be of metal, but the rest may be plastic or rubber made so that when the rod is stuck into the ground grains may be trapped between the two pressing members. Am I going crazy?

Pandaneko

[tasp]

Just speculating here, but maybe if they use another ion drive, they might use it to charge dust particles all over the surface of the second target, and by rewiring the ion drive, use the collection container(s) as the neutralizing electrode to draw small particles from maybe an entire hemisphere for collection?

You wouldn't get anything big, but you would get particles from a wide area. The particles they have now seem pretty scientifically useful, would grams (hopefully) of that stuff be a suitable mission result?

[dilo]

Cool idea, tasp!

[centsworth_II]

I remember reading that the reason a projectile method was used is that any method relying on collecting loose material would come up empty if the probe landed on an area devoid of loose, small-grained material. Even if there is a layer of loose grains to collect, a projectile would dig up underlying material and maybe knock a few chips off of a solid surface for a wider variety of sample.

[Paolo]

I don't understand this report

The new particles were found after scientists turned over and tapped the container before going to work on other compartments of the capsule, the agency said.

does it mean that the second compartment has still not yet been open?

[Leither]

I don't understand [url="http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20101130p2g00m0dm016000c.html"]this report[/url
does it mean that the second compartment has still not yet been open?

I would agree. My reading is that they have yet to open sample catcher B. The newly found grains having just fallen off when they turned it over to get access to the screws securing the lid to catcher B. Without details of the tolerances between the rotating sleeve mechanism and the body of the capsule, it's not possible to know whether the 0.1 mm grains may have come from catcher B or were on another part of the capsule. Whichever, it bodes well that sample catcher B will have even larger grains, as expected.

What a mission, what a remarkable achievement! And lots more to come...!!!

[centsworth_II]

Can 2's news just in, by the Yomiuri newspaper.

Hundreds of larger grains were found in there, 0.1mm to 0.01mm. JAXA announced this on 29th November...

Help! We are in a state of confusion!

The latest Yomiuri article I see online is from Nov. 18 and says,

"...space agency officials are now saying larger particles in the probe's capsule also are likely from the distant body.
The larger particles, measuring about 0.1 millimeter in diameter, were found in the same canister that contained the
smaller particles confirmed to be from Itokawa."

The latest I see from the JAXA English site is the Nov. 16 announcement about the 1500 small particles.