Hayabusa To Begin Long Journey Back to Earth

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @10:34AM from the any-mission-you-can-walk-away-from-right dept.

Sparky writes "Japan is planning to set the Hayabusa spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth next month after a delay of more than a year, but it's far from certain that it will get back safely. It was supposed to retrieve asteroid debris, but it's thought that a computer error prevented that from happening. A fuel leak means that its chemical thrusters are out of action, and the craft is relying on its weaker ion engines. The journey back will take 3 years, and the capsule will be on Earth in June 2010 — even if it is empty."

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Re:Why not park it in high orbit? by The+MAZZTer · 2007-02-15 10:43 · Score: 5, Informative

As the summary clearly indicates, they're not 100% sure wtf is up with it. Bringing it back allows them to figure that out, as well as collect any asteroid debris it might have successfully picked up. In addition, they'll be able to track down the computer error to avoid it occurring in future craft. Same with the fuel leak.