Another Japanese space success today: Its second robot cargo vehicle has successfully docked at ISS.
More solar sail news: Japan’s solar sail mission, IKAROS, has been extended for a year. Key quote:
With the extended lease on life, the team will try new navigational tricks, such as varying the sail’s angle toward the sun and changing the craft’s trajectory. Mori called these “risky” maneuvers because they are not sure if the sail will remain fully extended. They intend to model the sail’s behavior and the craft’s response to plan future solar sail missions.
Engineers now think that a cracked nozzle caused the Japanese probe Akatsuki to miss Venus.
The Japanese Venus probe Akatsuka might have failed, but its partner, the solar sail Ikaros, continues to function, and remains in contact with its ground controlers, even at a distance of 45 million miles. (The google translation of the daily blog is sometimes spotty (” I will go home 入Rita bath. It will fit your feet smell.”) but still worth reading,)
The first inspection of Hayabusa’s inner chamber revealed no visible asteroid particles. A microscopic search will follow however, as was done for the outer chamber, where 1500 asteroid particles were found.
The status of the Japanese probe Akatsuki in its attempt to go into orbit around Venus remains uncertain. The engines fired as scheduled, but radio signal was not regained at the scheduled time. Engineers are analyzing the spacecraft’s position now to see if it was successfully inserted into orbit.
The Japanese spacecraft, Akatsuki, is set to enter orbit around Venus tomorrow.
Japanese scientists have determined that a programming error was the reason why Hayabusa failed to fire its projectile at the asteroid Itokawa in 2005.
The first asteroid sample return! Japanese scientists announced today that their probe Hayabusa did capture asteroid dust in its visit to the asteroid Itokawa.
Japanese scientists have announced that the particles found in the Hayabusa return capsule are mostly made up of rocky materials.
Reports today in the Japanese press say that the Hayabusa return capsule did capture minute particles of extraterrestrial material.
We won’t know if the Japanese probe Hayabusa actually brought asteroid materials back to Earth until spring 2011. Key quote from the project scientist:
Kawaguchi said his science team found “tens of particles” in Chamber A of the canister. The tiny particles are being removed one-by-one in an extraction process that is stretching longer than anticipated.
Note that they still have not opened Chamber B, which is thought to have had a better chance of capturing asteroid material because it was the chamber in contact with the asteroid Itokawa.
The Japanese effort to rent out their Kibo module on ISS for research has stalled, mainly because private businesses apparently consider the prices too high.
The publication of the results of the material found within the Hayabusa capsule has been delayed until December. The researchers have found that the particles in the capsule are smaller than expected, and they need more time to study them properly.
The Japanese are considering upgrades to their unmanned HTV freighter that carries cargo to ISS. The upgrades would allow HTV to return large cargo to Earth, as well as possibly become a manned vehicle.
The Japanese government has approved a new asteroid mission similar to Hayabusa. The new mission could launch as early as 2014 and bring samples back by 2020.
The Japanese space agency JAXA has put Hayabusa’s heat shield, outer capsule, and parachute on public display, to large crowds.
The Japanese space agency has announced that their solar sail spacecraft Ikaros has successfully increased its velocity using only the light from the Sun, the first time this has ever been done by an interplanetary spacecraft.
