Hayabusa Mission

International audienceHayabusa (“peregrine falcon” in Japanese) is a scientific space mission developed by JAXA to explore a near-Earth asteroid and to return asteroidal soil, while validating new engineering technologies (propulsion, landing, and atmospheric reentry). Launched in May 2003, the Hayabusa-1 rendezvous with asteroid Itokawa was in September 2005. After 2 months of close observations, it descended and attempted to collect surface grains. It departed in 2007 and cruised back to Earth. The sample canister returned safely in July 2010. JAXA has confirmed the presence of tiny dust particles sampled on Itokawa. Hayabusa-2 is now planned, targeting the C-type asteroid 1993JU3 (launch in late 2014)