Asteroids '' ride 'asteroids for 30 minutes

On November 23, the Japanese Space Agency (Jaxa) announced their Hayabusa spacecraft successfully landed on Itokawa asteroid 300 million kilometers from Earth. However, the spacecraft could not collect the sample.

Itokawa asteroid

On November 20, Jaxa said Hayabusa had failed to attempt to land on the Itokawa asteroid surface. However, after analyzing the data, the agency confirmed Hayabusa landed on the surface of Itokawa for about 30 minutes but did not collect the sample. The landing site is about 30 meters off the expected location. After that, the spacecraft drifted away from asteroids.

According to Jaxa's spokesman Seiji Koyama, officials are still analyzing data. Tomorrow they will decide whether to direct the spacecraft to land a second time down the planet. The spacecraft has encountered a series of problems recently: the landing exercise was canceled in early November when it was unable to find the landing site, a small robot dropped by Itokawa was lost, one of the three gyroscopes has problems but has been overcome.

If this mission succeeds, this will be the first time material from an asteroid is brought to Earth. Obtaining a sample of asteroids will help scientists discover the secrets of the solar system. Information about asteroid structure is also important because it will help people deal with asteroids that are on the way to collide with the Earth in the future.

Scientists believe that the surface of asteroids remains virtually unchanged for centuries, unlike large bodies like Earth and the Moon. A NASA spacecraft collected data for two weeks from the Eros asteroid in 2001. However, the spacecraft did not bring the model back to Earth.

Hayabusa was launched in May 2003 at a cost of $ 100 million and will begin its return journey to Earth in early December. It will return to Earth and land in Australia in June 2007. Itokawa asteroid is named after Hideo Itokawa, the father of Japanese rocket science. Itokawa is moving in orbit between the Earth and the Sun. It is 690m long, 300m wide and has an attractive force of 1 / 100,000 of the Earth's gravity. That's why it's hard to land on Itokawa's surface.

Minh Son ( synthesized from AP, AFP, Reuters )