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| Science & Technology |
| Japanese Probe Apparently Lost in Space |
| 2005-11-13 |
| Japan's space agency suffered another glitch in its mission to collect surface samples from an asteroid and return to Earth when a can-sized robot lander apparently became lost in space while attempting a practice touch down. The rehearsal landing followed an earlier attempt that was aborted due to mechanical trouble, but the space agency said it is still targeting actual landings on the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25. The Hayabusa probe successfully released the Minerva surface-exploring robot on Saturday, but Minerva appeared to start drifting away from the asteroid's surface, according to a release from JAXA, Japan's space agency. Minerva was expected to land and hop around on the asteroid's surface collecting data with three small color cameras. 'Unfortunately, it appears Minerva did not recognize the surface,' JAXA said. Minerva was still in radio contact with Hayabusa late Saturday, and mission controllers were trying to find out more about its condition and location, JAXA said. Officials, however, expected the transmissions to give out soon, Kyodo News agency reported. 'It is very disappointing that it did not work out nicely,' JAXA official Junichiro Kawaguchi was quoted as saying by Kyodo. 'We found out various things about the asteroid, so we will study the data and hope it will lead to the successful landing of Hayabusa.' Another procedure Saturday to collect surface data with laser altimeter was largely successful, the agency said. ...more... Damn. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #3 Seriously, the asteroid probably has such low attraction (Gravity) that it just doesn't register. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-11-13 10:23 |
| #2 Japanese Lost in Space, eh? "War-ning! War-ning! Danger, Will Robin-san." |
| Posted by: Mike 2005-11-13 09:36 |
| #1 the potato-shaped asteroid, Itokawa.. ..Unfortunately, it appears Minerva did not recognize the surface the default tuber script blighted. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-11-13 04:22 |