Hayabusa return trip to Earth - through to June 13 - LIVE

[yoichi]

January 14, 2010 Updated
HAYABUSA coming back to terrestrial gravitation realm! Soon to be home

The Asteroid Explorer “HAYABUSA,” which is on its way back to the Earth, has gradually been changing its orbit to come closer to the Earth. The explorer is now confirmed to be on an orbit that passes through the inside of the terrestrial gravitation sphere (about 1.4 million km from the Earth.)
Currently, the HAYABUSA is flying about 60 million km away from the Earth. Its flight orbit is scheduled to be moved inside the moon orbit.

Hayabusa about to enter into Earth's gravity sphere
http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/e/activity/hayabusa.html

Current Position/Trajectory Profile
http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/hayabusa/today.shtml

[yoichi]

http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/muses_c/index_e.html
March 1, 2010 Updated
HAYABUSA enters an orbit inside the Moon's orbit

HAYABUSA, which is traveling back to the Earth, is confirmed to have taken an orbit that runs inside of the Moon's orbit. The perigee of the current orbit is about 310,000 km from the Earth. In early March, we will temporarily stop the ion engine to estimate its precise orbit.

Hayabusa is skimming the Moon
Feb 18, 2010 Up!!
http://www.hayabusa.isas.jaxa.jp/e/index.html

[JimO]

Bringing Back a Piece of Heaven
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/robotic-exploration/bringing-back-a-piece-of-heaven

BY JAMES OBERG // MARCH 2010
23 March 2010—A small, severely damaged spacecraft named Hayabusa is limping back to Earth with a jury-rigged ion drive that would have made Star Trek’ s Scotty proud. Already seven years into its planned five-year mission to retrieve soil samples from an asteroid, the probe faces one last round of hazards before its midnight landing in Australia sometime in June with a sample canister.

[daniela]

http://www.hayabusa.isas.jaxa.jp/j/index.html

[FinalFrontier]

Bringing Back a Piece of Heaven
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/robotic-exploration/bringing-back-a-piece-of-heaven

BY JAMES OBERG // MARCH 2010
23 March 2010—A small, severely damaged spacecraft named Hayabusa is limping back to Earth with a jury-rigged ion drive that would have made Star Trek’ s Scotty proud. Already seven years into its planned five-year mission to retrieve soil samples from an asteroid, the probe faces one last round of hazards before its midnight landing in Australia sometime in June with a sample canister.

I really hope it works.

[robertross]

Bringing Back a Piece of Heaven
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/robotic-exploration/bringing-back-a-piece-of-heaven

BY JAMES OBERG // MARCH 2010
23 March 2010—A small, severely damaged spacecraft named Hayabusa is limping back to Earth with a jury-rigged ion drive that would have made Star Trek’ s Scotty proud. Already seven years into its planned five-year mission to retrieve soil samples from an asteroid, the probe faces one last round of hazards before its midnight landing in Australia sometime in June with a sample canister.

I really hope it works.

I do too. But even if it doesn't work they have a LOT to be proud of to get even this far.

[yoichi]

http://twitter.com/Hayabusa_JAXA
JAXA's Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa Team has just started tweeting hot topics toward the upcoming return of Hayabusa to Earth. Follow us! (dV)

[JimO]

Kyodo: Japanese Spacecraft, Returning From Asteroid, To Land in Australia
0840 GMT // Apr 21, 2010
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/i...?storyid=496932

The story quotes the Australian Defence ministry to reveal that:

"The probe, launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2003 with the task of collecting samples from the asteroid Itokawa, will land in the Woomera Prohibited Area, in southwestern Australia."

source:
Japanese spacecraft to land at Australia's Woomera range in June
Australian Department of Defence web site in English 21 Apr 10
http://www.minister.defence.gov.au/Faulkne...CurrentId=10170

[cd-slam]

Kyodo: Japanese Spacecraft, Returning From Asteroid, To Land in Australia
0840 GMT // Apr 21, 2010
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/i...?storyid=496932

The story quotes the Australian Defence ministry to reveal that:

"The probe, launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2003 with the task of collecting samples from the asteroid Itokawa, will land in the Woomera Prohibited Area, in southwestern Australia."

source:
Japanese spacecraft to land at Australia's Woomera range in June
Australian Department of Defence web site in English 21 Apr 10
http://www.minister.defence.gov.au/Faulkne...CurrentId=10170

I suggest if the probe makes a safe landing, it be renamed "The Little Probe That Could". Go Hayabusa!

[sandrot]

JimO's links above are broken, for me.

[cd-slam]

The link got shortened. Try:

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=496932

and

http://www.minister.defence.gov.au/Faulknertpl.cfm?CurrentId=10170

Unfortunately the Kyodo link is a subscriber link, I can only see the summary.

[yoichi]

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/04/20100421_hayabusa_e.html

Return of Sample Recovery Capsule aboard Asteroid Explorer "HAYABUSA"

April 21, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would like to announce that it was issued the Authorized Return of Overseas Launch Space Object (AROLSO) for the Sample Recovery Capsule aboard the Asteroid Explorer "HAYABUSA" from the Space Licensing and Safety Office (SLASO) of the Australian Government on Friday, April 16th.
The capsule is scheduled to return to the Earth in June 2010. According to the latest information, the capsule will reenter into the atmosphere at around 11:00 p.m. on June 13th, 2010, (Japan Standard Time, or 14:00 UTC* on the day) at the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia.
The "HAYABUSA" project team continues to carefully operate the spacecraft ahead of the reentry, and will release any updated information to the public whenever it becomes available.

http://twitter.com/Hayabusa_JAXA
A special website in English for Hayabusa's return has been launched today! (delta-V): http://bit.ly/90hSUF
We also restarted a blog for the return of Hayabusa. You can read my today's entry in English here: http://bit.ly/c7QToy (delta-V)

[robertross]

Thanks for the English link yoichi!

I'm very proud of the team and how they are managing this little wonder. Incredible effort.

[Garrett]

SpaceFlightNow article, April 26, 2010:

More challenges await Japan's asteroid mission
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1004/26hayabusa/

[jcm]

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/04/20100421_hayabusa_e.html

Return of Sample Recovery Capsule aboard Asteroid Explorer "HAYABUSA"

April 21, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would like to announce that it was issued the Authorized Return of Overseas Launch Space Object (AROLSO) for the Sample Recovery Capsule aboard the Asteroid Explorer "HAYABUSA" from the Space Licensing and Safety Office (SLASO) of the Australian Government on Friday, April 16th.
The capsule is scheduled to return to the Earth in June 2010. According to the latest information, the capsule will reenter into the atmosphere at around 11:00 p.m. on June 13th, 2010, (Japan Standard Time, or 14:00 UTC* on the day) at the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia.
The "HAYABUSA" project team continues to carefully operate the spacecraft ahead of the reentry, and will release any updated information to the public whenever it becomes available.

http://twitter.com/Hayabusa_JAXA
A special website in English for Hayabusa's return has been launched today! (delta-V): http://bit.ly/90hSUF
We also restarted a blog for the return of Hayabusa. You can read my today's entry in English here: http://bit.ly/c7QToy (delta-V)

Yoichi - I really appreciate your updates. Can you clarify something?
The diagrams (and the reference trajectory on JPL Horizons) show the final approach of Hayabusa on a hyperbola passing above Australia at 250 km or so. At entry - 3 hours or so the capsule separates on an entry trajectory (I assume that ignoring the atmosphere its perigee would be some small positive number like 20-50 km or so?). Which of these scenarios is correct:
 - the ejection of the capsule gives it a little delta-V to the side, lowering the perigee to some value Hp within the atmosphere; the main Hayabusa spacecraft screams on past at 250 km altitude and goes back into orbit around the Sun with different heliocentric orbital parameters (Earth swingby),  *** OR ***
 - the main spacecraft makes one final orbit tweak prior to capsule separation, and both enter the Earth's atmosphere with vacuum perigee Hp = some number; the main spacecraft burns up; the separation velocity of the capsule is along the main velocity vector and doesn't change the orbit significantly.

I am guessing maybe it's the second scenario but I've never seen it said explicitly.
Thanks for any details you can provide, and congratulations to the entire team on inspiring the world with your determination and skill

Jonathan

[daniela]

If everything goes for the best, the mothership will entry as well, in a very similar trajectory. It is expected that it breaks up and burns, but some large fragment may be found.

Go Hayabusa! Congratulations to the outstanding Hayabusa team and best wishes of success on the upcoming TCM and capsule recovery.

[yoichi]

http://twitter.com/Hayabusa_JAXA/status/13120306967
Hayabusa's TCM-1 is GO! It will start at 19:00 JST, May 1st. (delta-V)

[yoichi]

http://twitter.com/Hayabusa_JAXA

The start time of Hayabusa's TCM-1 will be changed from 19:00 JST to 20:00 JST．(delta-V)

Started TCM-1 at 20:00 JST (delta-V)

TCM-1 operation has commenced. It will take around 64 hours for ion engine to accelerate. Hayabusa condition is going well. (delta-V)

The purpose of this maneuver is guidance of Hayabusa to the trajectory targeting the outer rim of the earth. (delta-V)

[robertross]

Thanks for the update!

[yoichi]

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/hayabusa-live/?itemid=413

2010/05/04 13:16:32: TCM-1 operation was successfully completed
Category: 2010_English Posted by: HayabusaLive
JAXA confirmed that TCM-1 operation was successfully completed.
By this operation, Hayabusa spacecraft was guided to the outer rim
of the Earth and the distance between Hayabusa spacecraft and the Earth
resulted in around 16,600,000km far. The Hayabusa spacecraft system
is going well.

Trajectory Profile
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missions/hayabusa/trj.shtml