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Posted on 06/13/2010 5:04:54 AM PDT by Frenchtown Dan
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
PING
Flied Lice?
Just hope it’s not “The Andromeda Strain” with English subtitles.
Hah!
I was wondering if maybe there could be some kind of alien virus or bacteria in the fragments from the asteroid, perhaps dormant coming to life once again to feed.
Reentry is scheduled for around 13:51 GMT. Right now it is 13:21 GMT so only 30 minutes to go.
Awesome.
I’ll try to find some coverage.
It might be a few days before we find out how much asteroid material was brought back. They are not sure if the device used to gather the stuff actually worked or not, but even if it didn’t work there should still be some. The landing in itself should have driven some material into the container.
Thanks for the post. I didn’t even know this mission existed.
(from the article)
Watch it Live
An attempt will be made to provide a live video feed of the Hayabusa reentry around 13:51 GMT.
The video will be chosen from cameras operated onboard NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Laboratory by Jesse Carpenter and Greg Merkes of NASA Ames Research Center, or those operated by Ron Dantowitz, Marek Kozubal, James Brietmeyer and Brigitte Berman of Clay Center Observatory, or those operated by Mike Taylor and Jonathan Snively of Utah State University.
The video feed will be transmitted by the DC-8 aircraft via INMARSAT, though it may not be of high quality.
See it here at: http://sgqtss.arc.nasa.gov:554/dc8-current.sdp
(The .sdp extension a Real Networks extension I assume is for the Real Player)
I remember something about it back in 2005, but nothing more since only a few days ago.
The website must be flooded with hits. Can’t get in.
Same here.
Oh, well.
I’ll have to wait until this evening to find out.
Gotta mow the lawn, wash the car, maybe get a little fishing in.
Later, and thanks for the link. Maybe it will free up.
Here’s a great animation of the of the mission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4CeVVhpdW8
History of Japanese space exploration and the Hyabusa mission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J8u5fSl8m8&NR=1
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GODZIRA!!
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