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Hayabusa Probe Lands on Asteroid After All
pin_gween writes "Reuters.UK is reporting the the Hayabusa space probe successfully landed on the asteroid Itokawa. JAXA officials are trying to determine whether to attempt another landing. The probe has had a series of glitches, and failed to drop a set of instruments upon landing."
Considering that they lost connection with it and how it still managed to land perhaps they should rename it the Zatoichi probe.
"In the game of life, someone always has to lose. To me, if life were fair, that someone would always be Oklahoma." -DKR
...apparently did not deploy its sampling tools, which was kind of the point of the mission. Still, it's a pretty major feat and the article says they might try again, to see if they can get their samples. And check out this great image of the asteroid with the probe's shadow.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Look, a TIE-fighter shadow! (which as everyone knows, is a short-range fighter.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
You can turn JAXA into AJAX using only two moves. Anyways....why did they send the probe up anyways
NO~, I read Slashdot because I think it's stupid.....
Make sure it has the fire wheel equipped for Jacquio. And kill the tail first when you fight the statue.
On Sunday, the probe dropped a small object as a touchdown target from 130 feet above the asteroid and then descended to 56 feet, according to JAXA.
At that point, ground control lost contact with the probe for about three hours, JAXA officials said.
Sounds like Contact . Maybe the probe met some aliens.
Just do what NASA does and ram that asteroid kamikaze style.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
You have to wonder just how autonomous this probe is, if the news that it successfully landed (and has subsequently taken off again) comes as a surprise to Mission Control.
...they should have bought the upgrade to On Star(tm).
Up there somewhere. I think this team should be put in charge of future planet killer asteroid deflection missions. After all what could possibly go wrong?
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can leave until the day after.
With the number of setbacks the probe has had,I was honestly surprised to hear they made a relatively successful landing (minus the tool deployment). Considering the number of people out there claiming the first lunar landing never happened, I'm also surprised that there aren't more skeptics out there demanding more proof that the probe did land on the asteroid and that this isn't doctored data to help the Japanese space agency save face. I mean, hitting a fast moving target with a glitchy probe is an amazing feat. I guess this isn't a major space agency and this isn't a major project compared to NASA and the first manned lunar landing, so it's not going to attract the attention of the fringe...
I would be killed by frustration alone were I the mission controller. But big kudo's to them, they keep surprising me with their determination and perseverance.
I bet they'll be trying another landing, otherwise there'd be no use in sending the probe home.
B.
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
(disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about this topic)
Does anybody know whether we could use asteroids to transport probes around space?
Wouldn't an asteroid potential provide a fast and free transportation system? Wouldn't they provide rudmentary protection against space radaition somewhat?
If you ask me, NASA and other space agencies should be firing out probes like crazy. Small, inexpensive ones. Do lots of them. And make it so they can communicate with each other. Sort of like a mesh network in space: so one far away could communicate back via other ones.
We seem to spend a lot of time and money fussing about with silly low gravity science on ISS when we could be exploring the galaxy with probes. I've been very impressed with the Mars probes and would like to see more of that sort of thing.
I don't know why they think they can land it again. Once you're voted off the asteroid, that's it - you go home.
Are you...Are you some kind of genius?
No, ma'am, I'm just a regular Slashdot reader.
Too fast to keep in contact?
If you think imaginary property and real property are the same, when does your house become public domain?
I guess third time is not a charm, pretty good college try for their fledgeling space agency. I hope they do better on their ramp up to build a base on the moon by 2025. These kinds of problems on a mission like that could spell disaster. I wonder if anyone over there is thinking, "Maybe we should just stick with robots."
... what did you expect, something profound?
Rogue hackers at NASA/RSA hacked in and took command...
-everphilski
The last picture sent to earth before they lost communication indicated a new species of life that lives in the vacuum of space.
... what did you expect, something profound?
There was only ONE camera recording the event...
- are very heavy
- get cramped, bored
- need food
- need water
- need air
Robotic probes just run off a power supply. Now consider which is cheaper to launch.The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Over a distance of 3x10^11 m they land on an object only 548 m long. The corresponding opening angle is so small that my calculator cannot do the math.
Congratulations!
And after all those millions of dollars into the probe... Houston! The asteroid is made of cheese! :P
Storyline:
....
On Nov. 9, the Hayabusa moved within 70 meters of the Itokawa during a descending test that aimed to verify the guidance and navigation functions.
The cause of an anomaly that led to the cancellation of the rehearsal scheduled on Nov. 4 was clarified, thus we will carry out its landing at the "MUSES Sea" and sampling under the following schedule.
Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha
Hayabusa Mission Control: Transmission ended...
$sys$Hayabusa
Is this being powered by the xbox?
- Just because you can't, doesn't mean you shouldn't
The first successful asteroid landing attempt was done on Eros by the NEAR spacecraft :
See Here.
The amazing thing is that NEAR was not even designed to land : they mission controllers did it because NEAR was running out of fuel and would be turned off anyway so they decided to chance it. They put it down (after a few bounces on the surface too) and turned it off. One day they might try to turn it on again.
The point is, that it is not impossible to do it. Indeed, the physics is pretty simple. There is no "hitting a fast moving target" problem : the probe is already in orbit and moving pretty slowly relative to the asteroid. The problem is systems engineering : all the problems that you see from the probe is not because some tools malfunctioned outright etc, it is poor integration of systems. Just look at the communications downlink blackout during the landing rehearsal that results in the loss of the MINERVA miniprobe. I mean, come on, you can PREDICT when those blackouts occur!
Finally, your rant about "Japanese cheating to save face" is just pure flamebait.
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
ops. Reread your post a bit. Sorry, you are not a troll and I misunderstood you. But hey, it is still useful information!
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
I wonder what CD-ROM they were listening to when they lost connection to the space probe?
Sony strikes again.....
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Or, if (well, since) it is the FIRST Japanese probe to land on the asteroid, then if/when it dies, it can be Kurose Ichi (Kuroshita Ichi-kun), the first to die there...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Hmmm. It's going to have to hussle its metallic behind to make that deadline.
The last part just reminds me of the Monks' song "Skylab": ... something came down on me head. Look at the size of that. It looks like a bloody big tin can.
Take 1000000 and 3
SKYLAB! [repeated]
[Australian accent] Ouch
[Other Australian] You reckon it's got any beer in it?
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
That's no moon, look at the symbol in the picture. They have stumbled across the planet of the guardians
Asteroid lands on Hayabusa probe.
Just like nuclear weapons, supersonic flight, and a few others this was bound to happen. Science-fiction is made reality once more. That little 'probe' is surely a katamari ball they used rolled up an asteroid - now on to the planet-size level! And from the Japanese no less.
But we can't put a man on the moon!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Targeting an asteroid would be no different than targeting any other free-falling body in space. I think maybe you have some idea that the asteroid might be accelerating randomly. As a matter of fact, the asteroid's path is just as predictable as any other free falling body in space. The asteroid is in free fall (toward the Sun I'm assuming). In fact, according to Einstein's theory of GR, the free falling object isn't really accelerating at all; the asteroid itself is in an inertial frame of reference. It's relative acceleration is simply due to the asteroid staying in space that has been warped by the Sun's mass. Here on Earth we are in non-inertial frames of reference; the ground is accelerating us outward from our free-falling state, space is warped away from us.
Now, if you were to have given the fact that the asteroid is relatively small compared to Mars or the Moon, you might have had a good point, but I'm no NASA physicist.
Anyone else think that shadow looks like a TIE Fighter? No ion engines on that probe, right? Just checking...
$#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???
What if they sped up fast enough to land on the asteroids, and then used the remaining fuel (if any) to power a generator that would keep transmissions coming for a long time? Instead of just being probes, they could also be communications waypoints. I don't know about this though, the asteroid may be of material that blocks transmissions.
But if they put various probes in about 8 places on the asteroid belt, we would have a good communications mesh around the solar system.
Just some food for thought, I guess.
Hayabusa has dropped that plaque bearing the names of Steven Spielberg and Arthur C. Clarke, and if not, might there still a chance on the next approach?!?
Stage 1: Land, really hard.
Stage 2: Cry and whine while huge bump forms on the probe.
Stage 3: Hit asteroid with really huge wooden mallet while screaming
"BAKA!"
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
It's no great feat to hit a small target if you're using feedback to course correct as you go. The hard part is deploying the probe, not getting there.
The humans of course. They built that damn thing.
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
While the Japanese are launching stuff what is this guy doing? Nice "Shuttle" ;)
www.qsopht.com ~q
Some years ago I signed up for the chance to have my name, and the names of my family engraved on the marker thingy that got fired at the asteroid. Apparently, it's sitting on the asteroid now.
I've been looking on the web to find a copy of the list, so I can prove that I did it, but I can't find one anywhere. Anyone know where the list is? A link would be appreciated.
fnord
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they're not.
(From a Brit) Beagle 2, Hayabusa, erm... Venera 3... it has to be said, when it comes to landing craft on celestial bodies and actually doing stuff, the USA i.e. NASA gets it right every time (ok, neeearly). Well, us Europeans did plop Huygens onto Titan's surface, but it didn't last long. Next time, could we just pay you guys to build it? Uh, while we're there, perhaps you could land it for us too. And make it do what we sent it there for.