Japanese asteroid-sampling spacecraft returning to Earth in June

APR 23, 2010

Physics Today

SPACE.com : Launched in 2003, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa may become the first spacecraft to visit an asteroid and return samples to Earth. Despite a damaging solar flare, the failure of one of its gyros, and other mishaps, the probe landed on asteroid Itokawa on 25 November 2005 and is believed to have retrieved a sample. If all goes to schedule, a reentry capsule will detach from the probe and land in the Australian outback on 13 June. Besides the samples, Hayabusa collected images, IR spectra, and other data.

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