Hayabusa Spacecraft Set for Earth Return

The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft, an unmanned space mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa, is now been placed on a trajectory to land back on Earth Sunday, June 13, 2010 in the south-central Australian outback at Woomera after a seven year space trek, [Christian Science Monitor].

The Hayabusa probe was launched on 9 May 2003 and rendezvoused with asteroid Itokawa in mid-September 2005. After arriving at Itokawa, Hayabusa studied the asteroid's shape, spin, topography, colour, composition, density, and history. In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid and attempted to collect samples but failed to do so. Nevertheless, there is a high probability that some dust swirled into the sampling chamber, so it was sealed for the return to Earth phase. If successful, the JAXA mission will mark the first time that an asteroid sample is returned to Earth for analysis, [21-min. JAXA Video].

Once it is on its return trajectory, the re-entry capsule will be detached from the main spacecraft at a distance of about 300,000 to 400,000 km from the Earth, and the capsule will coast on a ballistic trajectory, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. The capsule will experience peak deceleration of about 25 G and heating rates approximately 30 times those experienced by the Apollo spacecraft. It will land via parachute near Woomera, Australia, [music Vid].