Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa-2 mission to asteroid 162173 (1999 JU3) is in the planning stage. The plan is to launch Hayabusa-2 in 2014, land on the asteroid in 2018 and gather surface samples and return to Earth in 2020. The return trip of 2 years versus 6 year total mission time). The Hayabusa-2 probe will use explosives to make a hole on the asteroid to collect surface materials. JAXA recently announced it submitted a proposal to the country's Space Activities Commission for a less ambitious follow-on to Hayabusa costing about $310 million. The commission and Japanese government will decide the fate of Hayabusa 2 when the JAXA budget is formulated later this year. On Wednesday the trial production of equipment to be loaded on the Hayabusa-2 space probe was approved.
 |
| JAXA image |
Hayabusa-2 Spacecraft
- ion propulsion
- almost same as first Hayabusa with minor modifications
- flat antenna
- approach involves one Earth swingby
- Minerva 2 - Lander
- sample collection from the asteroid surface with "touch-and-go" approach
 |
| Hayabusa-2 and Minerva 2 - Lander (JAXA image) |
+1999+JU3-08112010.gif) |
| Orbital diagram of NEA 162173 |
(162173) 1999 JU3
- C-type asteroid
- SMASSII spectral class Cg
- expected to contain more organic or hydrated materials than S-type Itokawa
- a = 1.1896212 AU
- e = 0.1902258
- P = 1.30 years
- Apollo or earth crossing Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
- Potentially Hazard Asteroid (PHA)
- Discovered 1999-May-10 by LINEAR at Socorro (704)
The Daily Yomiuri - Panel OK's development of Hayabusa successor: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/T100805005346.htm
Spaceflight Now - ESA's Cosmic Vision missions depend on priorities abroad:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment