Hayabusa in fiery return to Earth
Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft last night ended its seven-year mission to asteroid Itokawa, burning up over the South Australian outback after releasing the sample return cannister, which survived the re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Hayabusa's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Pic: NASA Airborne Australian, Japanese and NASA …
did these people never watch the creep show movies?!
So we've sent a probe to an asteroid and are now bringing back smaples? Did anyone not think this might possibly be a little bit dangerous? Did anyone even consider that there may be life/virii on that asteroid?
Maybe even the kind of virus that could possibly wipe out off life on earth?
Just saying...
mines the one with the tin foil hat in the pocket.
I have a nasty feeling that Hayabusa has retrieved precisely nothing.
Fail on this level can quite justifiably be described as epic.
Come on now. Getting an unmanned craft to land on an asteroid - and - turn to earth can't really be described as a fail - epic or otherwise.
I wonder if we would have made any scientific/engineering discoveries if every attempt had non-science types shouting "epic fail" from the sidelines.
At least the sample return capsule landed OK, unlike Genesis, which stacked itself into Terra Firma at terminal velocity:
http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/gm2/multimedia/videos/mpg/live_entry_impact.mpg
"Negative drogue, negative chute"
SPLAT
While it did land with a thump, Genesis did complete its mission by returning useful samples. This is an example of the old pilot's adage "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing".
There was supposed to be an asteroid shattering kaboom
The illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator! That creature has stolen the space modulator!
....maybe I'm not in as cynical a mood as normal but I agree with Haines, even if the 'cupbaord is empty' I'd still say well done, they gave it a bloody good shot and pulled of a nice firework display for the finale.
(Which is more than I can say about Saturday's 'performance' BTW!)
Would be funny (well, more like gruesome, but anyway) if the capsule landed onto top of some animal and went straight through it...
Surely rubble is by definition lots of lumps? A single lump of rubble would be more commonly called a rock.
There are several reasons I sold the Hayabusa (taken in partial trade for services rendered). Probably the biggest reason was the potential for it to return to earth in a shower of sparks ... Oh, wait, you're not talking about the GSX1300R?
Was to leave Bruce Willis on the asteroid 'just in case'
Admit it - you haven't seen him recently.
In what technical way is this _not_ a meteor? I know it is man-made and all that, but it was basically an extra-planetary object diving, unguided, through our atmosphere. And that was from a scientist...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/14/hayabusa_retrun/
I watched the Hayabusa and capsule return from a nearby location, it was fantastic. The sky lit up like a flash bulb going off as the main body and the sample return capsule entered the atmosphere.
Even if the cupboard is empty it has achieved so much in the use of remote controlled space. The capsule has been recovered. Both heat shields have been recovered which where testing a different form of shielding. I look forward to hearing of the other spacecraft that JAXA has out there now.
I can even cover the other not so popular topic of " sadville" as this model was made in that VRW
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gumby_roffo/4690615128/
Whoa there boys and girls! Hang on uno momento! Did these folks ever THINK about what they just did to one of my fav movies of all time? They like just wrecked the premise of Apocalypse. That sux!
