Hayabusa

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

Hayabusa was a daring and accident-prone Japanese mission that achieved the first return of a sample from an asteroid — and very nearly failed at every step. Launched on 9 May 2003 by JAXA, the small probe was as much a test of new technology, including ion engines and autonomous navigation, as a science mission. After a two-year cruise it reached Itokawa, a tiny, elongated 'rubble pile' asteroid, in September 2005, and surveyed it in exquisite detail, revealing a world with almost no craters, covered in boulders and loose gravel held together by feeble gravity. In November 2005 Hayabusa descended to the surface twice to grab a sample, though its collection mechanism malfunctioned and a small hopping lander it released drifted off into space. The journey home was harrowing: fuel leaks, failed reaction wheels, dead thrusters and a seven-week loss of contact forced engineers to improvise, nursing the crippled craft back using its ion engines. Finally, on 13 June 2010, Hayabusa blazed across the sky over the Australian outback and released its capsule, which parachuted safely down. Inside, scientists found about 1,500 microscopic grains of Itokawa — the first material ever returned from an asteroid, and proof that this class of rock matches the most common meteorites.

1. 2003Launch toward ItokawaLaunch

   A small JAXA probe departs to test ion engines and asteroid sampling.

2. 2005Arrival at ItokawaArrival

   Reaches the tiny 'rubble pile' asteroid and surveys its boulder-strewn surface.

3. 2005Touchdown to collect a sampleLanding

   Descends to the surface to grab material, though the collection mechanism malfunctions.

4. 2010Capsule returns to EarthLanding

   After a near-crippling journey home, the capsule parachutes into the Australian outback with the first asteroid sample.

Images

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