spacetoday.net: Japanese asteroid microlander misses target

Posted: Sun, Nov 13, 2005, 11:23 AM ET (1623 GMT)
Hayabusa spacecraft illus. (JAXA)

A Japanese spacecraft carried out a successful rehearsal of an asteroid landing, but a tiny lander the main spacecraft deployed apparently missed the asteroid and is lost in space. Hayabusa approached within 55 meters of the asteroid Itokawa on Saturday, releasing a 600-gram microlander named Minerva. Minerva was supposed to land on the surface and later hop around, taking images and temperature data. Officials with the Japanese space agency JAXA later reported, though, that Minerva apparently failed to land on the asteroid, apparently because Hayabusa was off-course at the time of the probe's release. The missed landing is the latest setback for the mission, which has suffered from technical problems, including an aborted landing test earlier this month. Project officials still hope to have Hayabusa touch down on the asteroid's surface later this month and collect samples for return to Earth, but that will depend on the amount of propellant remaining on the spacecraft.