No Dirt Today from Itokawa

[beamjockey]

Hayabusa aborted its planned "landing" on asteroid Itokawa. I hope there will be another opportunity to get a surface sample and drop the bouncing Minerva probe.

Comments

Important news I usually miss

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Darn, I hope so too. I'm glad someone in my acquaintance keeps up with these things. I like to, but I usually don't know until weeks later when it's in a magazine somewhere.

Have you been checking out the Leonids this year? I saw one last Weds. by accident, I hope to get out soon before they are all past.

Of course there was a tornado just 70 miles south of where I live and I had no clue. Relatives from all over the country are calling me worried that it hit my house, but Northern KY/Southern IN is a long way across.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The aborted descent wasn't the actual sampling touchdown; it was just going to release Minerva and get close to the asteroid in preparation for the landing. They're going to try again.

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

Clearly, the space probe defense system (abandoned long ago by the Itokawans) is still functioning.

hayabusa

[(Anonymous)]

I wonder if it is a coincidence that the space probe shares its name with a Suzuki 170mph motorcycle...

Re: hayabusa

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

wonder if it is a coincidence that the space probe shares its name with a Suzuki 170mph motorcycle...

"Hayabusa" means "Dove." I would tend to doubt it, but I guess it's not impossible that someone was thinking of the motorcycle when the spacecraft was named.