Hayabusa Probe Arrives at Destination 157
david.given writes "The Japanese space probe Hayabusa has just arrived at its destination, the asteroid Itokawa, and is taking pictures. The largely autonomous ion-drive powered vehicle was launched in 2003 and was supposed to have arrived last year, but a solar flare damaged the solar panels causing a reduction in power. It will study the asteroid for two months before collecting a sample from the surface and departing for Earth, which it should reach in 2007. It's a pity that NASA's asteroid rover, which Hayabusa was going to drop off, got cancelled due to budgetry constraints..."
Typo (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Asteroids full of life? (Score:2, Informative)
Now, we have identified all elements from 1 proton-nuclei (Hydrogen) through 112 proton-nuclei (Ununbium).
It is theoretically possible that there are other elements that exist in space that we haven't found yet. They would have to be larger than 112 protons per nucleus, though. In our surrounding vacinity, it is highly unlikely that we would find something like that.
Re:Asteroids full of life? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Asteroids full of life? (Score:2, Informative)
So we would need to find some place hospitable for fusion (maybe the Sun) and full of heavy elements (maybe not the Sun).
Re:Grasping at straws... (Score:5, Informative)
From a practical standpoint it is highly beneficial to know what asteroids are made out of. They're prime targets for space mining ventures at some point. Unlike materials mined from the Moon or Mars there's very little surface gravity to fight to get the material from the asteroid back to Earth. Hence it would be far easier to grab raw silicon or some such off a NEA and return it to Earth than get it off the Moon.
It also pays off to practice sending craft to rendevous with deep space objects. While current missions are exploratory, at some point they might be defensive. If we see an Earth crossing comet or asteroid in enough time there's a good chance we can alter its trajectory or outright destroy it (if its small enough) if we can successfully put spacecraft in striking distance of it. It is desirable to have a lot of people well versed in that sort of mission. It's also another area where knowing the composition of such objects is useful. Knowing what would be needed to destroy or deflect such an object is much easier when you know how it is going to behave. A rocky dense asteroid will act far differently than a loosely clumped dustball when hit with a nuclear blast.
Re:My tax refund is no budgetary constraint (Score:3, Informative)
NASA Cancels Rover on Joint Japan-US Asteroid Mission
November 3, 2000
NASA has canceled the development of a miniature rover, which would have been part of the U.S. contribution to a Japanese mission to an asteroid in September, 2005. The primary reasons for the cancellation were rising costs and weight.
A Previous President.
Re:Any country anywhere, this is cool. (Score:3, Informative)
Wiki link on Radiation Hardening [wikipedia.org]
Basically, it's not just japan that has the problem, it's everyone. Anything in earth orbit is partially protected by the earths magnetic field. The other thing is that you have to be in the path of the flare, this probe was just unlucky. The mars rovers and others would have problems if they were hit.