Hayabusa Probe Fails Landing Attempt

Posted by Zonk on Sunday November 20, 2005 @06:43AM from the so-close dept.

wschalle writes "Yesterday, at 3:46 PM EST the probe successfully dropped a small object onto the asteroid as a touchdown target. JAXA then apparently lost control of the probe for 3 hours. The probe went to an auto-pilot mode during the communications failure, collecting data about its flight and saving it for later transmission. The probe's exact location is unknown, but it is estimated to be between 10 and 100 kilometers from the asteroid at this time. The mission has been troubled by repeated failures, including the loss of a small robotic lander, and a gyroscope failure that was later repaired."

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Re:I think that 'care factor = 0'.... by msbsod · 2005-11-20 10:50 · Score: 0, Flamebait

If George W. Bush wants to go to the moon, then let him go. The sooner the better for the scientific community and most of us. And load that Kansas School Board of Intelligent Design on board, too. Let the mission be designed by Intelligent Design advocates. At least then we can go back to the question whether more intelligent people is one of the goals of evolution.