Hayabusa - The Return To Earth, The voyage home Options

[RNeuhaus]

Indeed yes, but we are still with diaper in space robotic technology. For Hayabusa, it would be much easier by releasing its outside canister but for Nozomi's case is not possible since it was not designed to release anything. I think so

Rodolfo

[ljk4-1]

It'd be cheaper, and the results would be better to just bolt on instruments to another spacecraft rather than trying to rescue another one

Doug

But Nozomi and Mariner 9 contain data on Mars at a particular time and place that cannot be repeated again.

Plus it would be so cool! And it would be good training for recovering future space probes, both ancient and modern.

Some day archaeological expeditions will be sent to recover and study old spacecraft to see what has become of them.

[djellison]

Some day archaeological expeditions will be sent to recover and study old spacecraft to see what has become of them.

Some day being Apollo 12

Doug

[ljk4-1]

Science/Astronomy:

* Asteroid Probe Yields Insight For Planetary Defense

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/05...r_hayabusa.html

Following roughly two months of notable operations at asteroid Itokawa, Japan's
Hayabusa probe is damaged goods. Hindered by thruster and gyroscope breakdowns,
the spacecraft is under makeshift attitude control with engineers hoping to
finesse the craft onto a homeward-bound trajectory back to Earth.


* Black Hole Swallows Neutron Star, Observations Suggest

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0512..._collision.html

A distant eruption of high-energy gamma rays is evidence for a black hole
swallowing another dense object called a neutron star, astronomers announced
today.

[RNeuhaus]

Example for Hayabusa return starting in June 2007

Hayabusa leaving 2007 to Earth 2010


New trajectory (red line) leaving Itokawa vicinity in spring of 2007, returning to Earth
in June of 2010 is shown here. The Xenon gas consumption meets the current
amount that remains. There will be some strategy needed and left for the operational discussion on how the attitude is protected against unexpected disturbance.

Interpreting the above picture, in the year 2007, Hayabusa will leave Itokawa by orbiting around to Itokawa before taking the orbit around the Sun in the clockwise. The Earth will orbit in counter-clockwise around the Sun. See the red line which is the proyected return home in 2007. The blue line is the proposed route to home in this year.

The question is why Hayabusa will make a small loop in the half way of orbit? (see on the left side)

Rodolfo

[ljk4-1]

Some day being Apollo 12

Doug

Nah, that was a fluke.

[nop]

The question is why Hayabusa will make a small loop in the half way of orbit? (see on the left side)

In this figure, the sun and the earth are fixed. That's why the orbit seems strange.

[Phil Stooke]

ljk4-1 :

"QUOTE(djellison @ Dec 14 2005, 03:30 PM)
Some day being Apollo 12

Doug


Nah, that was a fluke. "


No - Apollo 12 collecting bits of Surveyor 3, not the return of its SIVB, which must be what you are thinking of...

Phil

[ljk4-1]

ljk4-1 : 
 
"QUOTE(djellison @ Dec 14 2005, 03:30 PM)
Some day being Apollo 12

Doug
Nah, that was a fluke. "
No - Apollo 12 collecting bits of Surveyor 3, not the return of its SIVB, which must be what you are thinking of...

Phil

Just being facetious. I do consider Apollo 12 to have conducted one of the first space archaeology missions. I was initially referring to a future time when there is a real plan and system in place for organized space archaeology.

Funny and sad how schools do not recognize the Space Age as a historical period to study in its own right. That too shall change.

[edstrick]

The Hayabusa orbits plot is in sun-earth-fixed ROTATING coordinates. The loops are where the spacecraft, I think at perehilion, is travelling faster than Earth, while the rest of the orbit it's travelling slower.

[deglr6328]

Heathens! How dare you try to explain away Hayabusa's divine epicycles as a mere illusion of refrence point!!

[Bob Shaw]

Yes! They MUST do it, we all hope to see once more the Enigmatic Stone Garden of Itokawa

I suspect that 'hanging around' Itokawa would not actually involve being near enough to see anything - if the spacecraft has to be kept simply ticking over, then they won't want to waste resources doing extended station-keeping with what turned out to be a very small and difficult target.

Except for the return element, Hayabusa has been a stunning success, and I hope we don't see the mission downplayed a la Nozomi.

Bob Shaw

[MahFL]

"Except for the return element, Hayabusa has been a stunning success, and I hope we don't see the mission downplayed a la Nozomi. "

I disagree, so far its robot missed the asteroid, they did not know it had touched down, they don't know if they have any samples, and its out of control and pretty much disabled, it will be a miricle if it ever makes it back to earth, which I doubt, it'll proberbly die in the cold of space.

Thats IMHO.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Well, it did everything NEAR did on only about 2/3 of the money, which is not to be sneezed at -- especially since it gave us nice comparative data on another asteroid. Unfortunately, it now looks as though everything it tried to do BEYOND what NEAR did will be a washout.

[Bob Shaw]

Well, it did everything NEAR did on only about 2/3 of the money, which is not to be sneezed at -- especially since it gave us nice comparative data on another asteroid.  Unfortunately, it now looks as though everything it tried to do BEYOND what NEAR did will be a washout.

Bruce:

o It used an ion engine operationally in deep space
o Made use of sophisticated auto-nav and rendezvous systems
o Demonstrated close-in maneuvers in multiple ways

And performed a NEAR-like mission, too!

All in all, a helluva mission!

Bob Shaw