Hayabusa

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A computer rendering of Hayabusa above Itokawa's surface

Hayabusa (はやぶさ, literally, "Peregrine Falcon") is the name of a Japanese spacecraft which was sent into space to collect a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa.

The mission was a project of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of the University of Tokyo.

Hayabusa was sent into space on May 9, 2003.[1] In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid. The mission was successfully completed in June 2010 when the spacecraft returned to earth in June 2010.[2]

Mission[change | change source]

Hayabusa studied Itokawa's shape, spin, topography, colour, composition, density, and history. The Hayabusa mission was the first time that an attempt was made to bring an asteroid dust sample to earth for analysis.[3]

In popular culture[change | change source]

Three different feature-length films are being made about the Hayabusa mission.[4]

References[change | change source]

  1. JAXA, "Catalogue of ISAS Missions" Archived 2014-12-31 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-4-2.
  2. Ryall, Julian. "Asteroid Probe Set to 'Collide' With Earth," National Geographic, 11 June 2009; retrieved 2012-4-24.
  3. Amos, Jonathan. "Hayabusa asteroid-sample capsule recovered in Outback," BBC News, 14 June 2010; "Two-Way Asteroid Trip Takes Off," Archived 2012-09-29 at the Wayback Machine Astrobiology Magazine, May 12, 2003; retrieved 2012-4-24.
  4. Shoji, Kaori. "In a galaxy not so far away....," Archived 2011-09-25 at the Wayback Machine Japan Times, 23 September 2011; Nishida, Kensaku. 映画「はやぶさ」3社競う 足踏み日本、自信回復の願い (Film 'Hayabusa', 3 companies compete), Asahi shinbun, 12 July 2011; retrieved 2012-4-24.

Further reading[change | change source]

  • Fujiwara, A.; et al. (2006). "Hayabusa at Asteroid Itokawa (Special Issue)". Science. 312 (5778): 1327–1353. doi:10.1126/science.312.5778.1327. PMID 16741105. S2CID 129397518.
  • Hiroi, T., Abe., M., Kitazato, K., Abe, S., Clark, B.E., Sasaki, S., Ishiguro, M., and Barnouin-Jha, O.S. (2006). "Developing space weathering on the asteroid 25143 Itokawa". Nature. 443 (7107): 56–58. Bibcode:2006Natur.443...56H. doi:10.1038/nature05073. PMID 16957724. S2CID 4353389.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Normile, D. (2010-04-30). "Spunky Hayabusa Heads Home With Possible Payload". Science. 328 (5978): 565. Bibcode:2010Sci...328..565N. doi:10.1126/science.328.5978.565. PMID 20430991.

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Hayabusa at Wikimedia Commons