Damaged probe set for Woomera touchdown
AN extraordinary space adventure to find the origins of the solar system is about to end, with a pioneering spacecraft scheduled to parachute its precious cargo into the Woomera Prohibited Area after landing on a distant asteroid and scooping up samples of its primordial matter.
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa is hobbling home after a seven-year mission in which it travelled more than four billion kilometres, twice landed on the asteroid Itokawa, broke down, came back to life after two years, and headed home with failed or malfunctioning engines.
It will be the first time an unmanned spacecraft has rendezvoused with an asteroid, taken soil samples and returned to Earth. The 510kg Hayabusa - the size of a large fridge - was launched from Japan in May 2003 and, after travelling two billion km, landed on the 500m long Itokawa in November 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment