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Future of Hayabusa Asteroid Probe Looks Bleak

Posted by Hemos on from the here's-to-hoping dept.

mj_1903 writes "After landing, then not landing, then potentially landing on an asteroid it appears as though the Japanese spacecraft may have collected specimens of the asteroid. Unfortunately a host of problems is continuing to plague it including a lack of fuel, a shutdown of part of the chemical orientation system, a complete failure of the flywheels and communication issues. The Japanese team are however not giving up on it and are still hopeful that they can return it to the earth in June of 2007."

3 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Nipponese Ingenuity? by Lindus · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    What is more surprising than anything in this story is; it seems like the nipponese engineers actually show some resourcefulness and problem-solving skills, and don't seem to drown in any "All hail the great leader" group mentality that seems to prevail otherwise in their society.
        Solutions seem to be cropping up quickly and in a continuous stream to their problems, instead of becoming stuck in negotiations or meetings with no resolutions that we have seen all too often on other occasions.
        All in all I must say I am impressed. And if it comes back it will be a great success for the team.

    With hopes it all works out in the end, /Lindus

  2. Re:Adventure! by tsmithnj · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Whatever you might say about this mission, it certainly is exciting. I can't recall any other with such a level of failures and malfunctions, yet still with a hope, if at this point slim, of succeeding (Maybe SOHO has had an equal number of near death experiences over a much longer time span).

    Replace "this mission" with "the war in Iraq", and I agree 100%.

  3. Suzuki must be so proud. by Alanzilla · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    At least their reputation for making fast but unreliable junk is intact. :)