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Full Title: Water and organic materials essential for life on Earth are found on the surface of an ASTEROID for the first time in discovery that 'could re-write the history of life on our planet' The materials essential for life on Earth including organic matter and water have been discovered on the surface of an asteroid for the first time, a study shows. Planetary scientists from Royal Holloway University of London examined a single grain of dust returned to Earth from asteroid Itokawa by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as part of its first Hayabusa mission in 2010. The...

The Japanese space agency JAXA sent the Hayabusa probe to Itokawa, which collected soil samples and brought them safely back to Earth—for the first time in the history of space travel. This valuable cargo arrived in 2010 and since then, the samples have been the subject of intensive research. A team from Japan and Jena has now succeeded in coaxing a previously undiscovered secret from some of these tiny sample particles: the surface of the dust grains is covered with tiny wafer-thin crystals of iron. This observation surprised Prof. Falko Langenhorst and Dr. Dennis Harries of Friedrich Schiller University in...

Even as Japan's Hayabusa2 mission prepares to place landers on the surface of an asteroid, scientists are still squeezing discoveries out of data and samples gathered by its predecessor. Now, those samples have allowed scientists to piece together a detailed history of the asteroid that the first Hayabusa mission visited, a rocky near-Earth asteroid called Itokawa. The research relied on tiny particles of a phosphate-rich mineral found within the dust the Hayabusa spacecraft brought back from its journey. The scientists were able to study the uranium found in that phosphate and measure how much of it had broken down into...

Asteroid sampling mission probably failed 16:01 07 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Maggie McKee and AFP The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa is likely to have failed in its landmark mission to collect the first-ever samples from an asteroid, mission officials said on Wednesday. It also faces trouble returning to Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had earlier said the Hayabusa probe "most probably" succeeded in gathering material from the Itokawa asteroid, 290 million kilometres from Earth, on 26 November. The spacecraft was thought to have landed on the space rock for just one second, firing two metal pellets to throw...

A group of astronomers from NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other organizations had a front row seat to observe the Hayabusa spacecraft's fiery plunge into Earth's atmosphere. The team was aboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory, packed with cameras and other imaging instruments, to capture the high-speed re-entry over an unpopulated area of central Australia on June 13, 2010. The Japanese spacecraft has been on a seven-year journey to return a sample of the asteroid Itokawa.

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's space agency said Wednesday its spacecraft had successfully touched down on an asteroid 180 million miles from Earth despite an earlier announcement that it had failed. On Sunday, JAXA officials had said the Hayabusa probe, on a mission to land on the asteroid named Itokawa, collect material, then bring it back to Earth, failed to touch down after maneuvering within yards of the surface. However, the agency said Wednesday that data confirmed that Hayabusa had landed on the surface Sunday for a half-hour, although it failed to collect material. JAXA officials had said earlier that Hayabusa...

TOKYO - A Japanese spacecraft that landed on an asteroid to collect surface samples for analysis has developed trouble with its thruster system, the nation's space agency said Tuesday. The problem is the latest facing Japan's attempt to complete the world's first two-way trip to an asteroid, following earlier problems with the probe's gyroscopes and two botched practice landings.The Hayabusa probe appeared to have touched down Saturday, just long enough to collect powder from the asteroid's surface and lift off again to return to Earth.But it soon began shaking due to a gas leak from a thruster, and that continued...

A Japanese spacecraft that visited an asteroid in 2005 is returning to Earth this weekend and should put on a brief, but spectacular, light show for fortuitously placed Australians late on Sunday. The Hayabusa probe was launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on May 9, 2003 and rendezvoused with the Itokawa asteroid on September 12, 2005. [Photos of Japan's asteroid mission.] Now it is set to land back on Earth, hopefully with asteroid bits in tow.

Smooth Sections on Asteroid Itokawa Credit & Copyright: ISAS, JAXA Explanation: Why are parts of this asteroid's surface so smooth? No one is yet sure, but it may have to do with the dynamics of an asteroid that is a loose pile of rubble rather than a solid rock. The unusual asteroid is currently being visited by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa that is documenting its unusual structure and mysterious lack of craters. Last month, Hayabusa actually touched down on one of the smooth patches, dubbed the MUSES Sea, and collected soil samples that will eventually be returned to Earth...

The country that invented the Walkman may be back on track to burnish its image as a technological pioneer. Right now, more than 4.7 million miles from Earth, is a revolutionary spacecraft that could be the future of interstellar travel. Japan's space program, JAXA, confirmed on June 10 they had successfully unfurled the world's first solar sail — a spacecraft that uses the velocity of sunlight to propel it. Then, just three days later, Japan announced what could be an even more impressive accomplishment: a spacecraft that left Earth seven years ago had returned home. Before brilliantly burning up over...

The microwave discharge ion engines onboard HAYABUSA asteroid explorer have marked space operation of twenty thousands hour and unit as the accumulated operational time on December 9th. HAYABUSA spacecraft, which was launched on May 2003, succeeded the Earth swing-by on May this year and continues to transfer into the asteroid using the acceleration by the ion engines. They generated 1,300m/s delta-V consuming 20kg propellant up to now. After September the space maneuver using three ion engines was throttled down in order to adapt power reduction of the solar array panels due to enlargement of solar distance. Furthermore one of three...

Japanese space probe Hayabusa may have failed to land on the asteroid Itokawa, located about 290 million kilometers away from the Earth, Japan's space agency said Sunday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said it is uncertain whether Hayabusa has landed on the asteroid, adding the probe is apparently moving upward after hovering around 10 meters away from the small celestial body. The agency said the spacecraft, which temporarily lost contact with it, may have faced some sort of operational trouble. The probe dropped a ball with a reflecting plate as a landing target from about 40 meters above the...

TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese spacecraft showed signs of trouble Saturday after apparently landing on an asteroid and collecting surface samples in an unprecedented mission to bring the extraterrestrial material back to Earth, officials said. The Hayabusa probe, hovering about three miles from the asteroid, appeared to be shaking due to a possible gas leak from a thruster, said Atsushi Akoh, a spokesman for Japan's space agency, JAXA. JAXA will put Hayabusa into "safety mode" - which stabilizes the probe by turning its solar panels toward the sun - for two to three days to investigate, Akoh said. Communications between...

ASSOCIATED PRESS TOKYO -- Japan's space agency said Tuesday it had re-established partial contact with a problem-plagued probe sent to collect samples from an asteroid, but a fuel leak could cut communications again. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said it had established sufficient contact with the Hayabusa probe to assess its condition and position. JAXA has been gradually restoring communications with Hayabusa since January, after a thruster malfunction the previous month put the probe into a spin that caused a break in contact, the agency said in a statement. It said it now has learned that a fuel leak that...

A Japanese space probe which scientists hope will bring back a sample from an asteroid is due to return to Earth on schedule late on Sunday in the Australian outback, an Australian defense official said. The Hayabusa probe is due to land around 11.30 p.m. (1400 GMT) near the Woomera military range in the remote desert north of South Australia state. [snip] The return will mark the end of a seven-year journey that has taken the probe to the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa and back. It landed on the asteroid twice in 2005 and scientists hope it may have captured a...

SYDNEY (AFP) – A capsule that scientists hope will contain a little slice of outer space after a seven-year journey across the solar system was sitting in the Australian Outback on Monday waiting to be recovered. The pod, which was ejected from a Japanese space probe as it burned up in a spectacular meteor-like display over Australia, could hold the first piece of asteroid ever brought to Earth. The heat-resistant pod parachuted into the Woomera military zone after being ejected from Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft as it flamed back into the planet's atmosphere late Sunday. Australian National University scientist Trevor Ireland,...

Explanation: Where are the craters on asteroid Itokawa? Missing -- unexpectedly. The Japanese robot probe Hayabusa approached the Earth-crossing asteroid in 2005 and returned pictures showing a surface unlike any other Solar System body yet photographed -- a surface possibly devoid of craters. The leading hypothesis for the lack of common circular indentations is that asteroid Itokawa is a rubble pile -- a bunch of rocks and ice chunks only loosely held together by a small amount of gravity. If so, craters might not form so easily -- or be filled in whenever the asteroid gets jiggled by a passing...

Three years ago, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa set out to fetch a bit of asteroid and return it to Earth, and last November, the little satellite set down on a 500-meter-long asteroid called Itokawa. But Hayabusa's trip has been every bit as bumpy as the asteroid itself, and mission scientists remain unsure whether the beleaguered probe collected a sample or will even make it back home. Still, the spacecraft did manage to transmit some eye-popping findings, described in today's issue of Science: Gravitational measurements taken with Hayabusa's instruments indicate Itokawa is up to 40% empty space. Hayabusa means falcon, but...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Japanese spacecraft that landed on an asteroid found a ball of rubble held loosely together by its own gravity, unlike other asteroids that have been visited, according to reports from the mission published on Thursday. The spacecraft Hayabusa, whose name means "falcon" in Japanese, hovered over the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa last autumn, taking several measurements before landing briefly on the orbiting gravel pile. Itokawa has two parts resembling the head and body of a sea otter, according to Akira Fujiwara and his colleagues in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Previously studied asteroids appeared to be...

TOKYO - A Japanese spacecraft on an unprecedented mission to bring asteroid material back to Earth is set to start home despite showing signs of trouble earlier, an executive of Japan's space agency, JAXA, said Sunday. On Saturday, the Hayabusa probe apparently landed on the Itokawa asteroid and collected surface samples. After the landing, the probe hovered about three miles from the asteroid and appeared to be shaking due to a possible gas leak from a thruster, JAXA said. The probe shut down all its engines Saturday and switched to solar power while JAXA investigated the problem. But the probe...