Hayabusa 2 Probe Launches

[Andrew Godden 945]

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have launched the Hayabusa 2 probe in a search for the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

No, the answer is not 42, not in this instance at least.

However, whilst Britain's Lunar Mission One is still trying to scrape together its first quid to get to the moon, maybe in 10 years, Hayabusa 2 will travel to the asteriod 1999 JU3, which lies 300 kilometres from Earth. The probe is expected to arrive at the asteroid in 2018 and return with samples in late 2020.

Hayabusa 2 will map the surface of the 900 metre wide asteroid before touching down, deploying small explosives to blast a crater and then collect resulting debris.

JAXA hopes the samples may help shed light on the history of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth.

Now, that is a space mission really worth rodomontading about.

[hifly 925]

Sounds a lot more feasible than the British moon shot Andrew. Still, if 1999 JU3 is only 300 km from Earth I think even we Brits might hit it. 

 

JAXA... just as well it isn't called the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Institute or JAXI... hmmm a JAXI probe...

[MartinW 0]

I think you're missing the point regarding the UK mission chaps.

The UK moon mission isn't intended to rival the greatest space missions ever conceived. Rather it's intended as an experiment in regard to a new way to "fund" space exploration.

David Iron, who's leading the project, set up the initiative because governments were increasingly finding it difficult to fund space missions. If successful, grander missions could be funded this way.

So to be honest, comparing the UK mission with other grander missions, and thus deriding it, is to miss the primary reason the initiative was set up. The long term legacy of the initiative will be a new way of funding space exploration,"

Glad you like the Japanese mission, so do I.

[Andrew Godden 945]

Nothing missed here, that's for sure!

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Why isn't 42 the answer? Just because the question is 6x9!

 

Anyway, the mission looks interesting and I like it!

[Andrew Godden 945]

Why isn't 42 the answer? Just because the question is 6x9!

 

Anyway, the mission looks interesting and I like it!

 

Kieren,

 

Given the mission objectives, it could well return the answer of 42.  We will just have to wait and see. 

 

Either way, like an good hitchhiker, I have my towel constantly with me.

 

Cheers

Andrew

[MartinW 0]

Nothing missed here, that's for sure!

Oh okay then, glad to hear it.

But in that case I'm curious, curious as to why, in your first post, you compared the UK moon mission to the Japanese mission in terms of time frame, as in... "whilst Britain's Lunar Mission One is still trying to scrape together its first quid to get to the moon, maybe in 10 years"?

Not sure why you mentioned the UK mission when the UK mission doesn't have the same objectives as the Japanese mission. In fact the 10 year time frame  isn't relavent, because this is an experiment to find a new way to fund such missions. Rather than being funded by government, the UK mission will be funded by voluntary donations.

 

In my UK moon landing topic you said of course...

 

You have got to be kidding? So, after six manned lunar missions of the Apollo Program, not to mention the other unmanned missions, this lot are going to reveal something new.....but wait, yes, wait ten years, if you are lucky.

This British consortium need to wake up and smell the coffee. Britain got left behind in the space race over half a century ago and every other man and his dog has done it or something even more impressive since then.....but no, good old mother England will just go where everybody else has already been before.

 

 

The above is why I was still unsure if you were aware of the primary goal regarding the UK mission.

 

The primary goal is of course to find a new way to fund missions, the science is secondary. And of course, I suppose I am inclined to defend my counties endeavours in this respect. In this case, a very innovative endeavour in terms of funding.

[Christopher Low 63]

It's the orbital dynamics of these spacecraft that I always find most interesting. Hayabusa 2 (just like quite a few other spacecraft before it) will use Earth for a gravity assist flyby in December 2015. The exact parameters of that are not known to me at this time, although I suspect that the figure of "300 kms" given by Andrew in his opening post may well be the distance of the spacecraft from the Earth's surface at closest approach. I have an old piece of DOS software called Dance of the Planets that can simulate the trajectories of spacecraft, including very close approaches to the planets. They are fascinating to observe, and the subsequent changes to the solar orbit can be seen by "zooming out". Unfortunately, this amazing piece of software does not work on my modern PC. I do have it on CD, but the final version was released in 1994!

 

I would love to see a version of Dance of the Planets released for modern systems. It would be awesome!

 

[markhudson6 13]

Christopher you can run Dance of the Planets on Windows, just grab a free copy of the DOSbox emulator and Dance of the Planets "works great" according to their Devs. 

 

http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1

 

http://www.arcscience.com/otherProducts/danceOfThePlanets.html

 

Regards,

 

M.

[Christopher Low 63]

I will look into that, Mark. Thanks for the information.

[markhudson6 13]

Your welcome Christopher, I hope you can get it running and maybe show us your proposal for a deep space mission. 

 

Regards,

M.

[MartinW 0]

Andrew, I'm  a bit disappointed. There was nothing objectionable in either of my posts. So why so shirty?  Why so defensive?
 
I was simply confused by your post, and wondered whether you were aware of the UK missions objectives. It's okay to be confused isn't it? It's okay to politely enquire if someone is aware of a missions primary goal?
 
It's really not necessary to be so unfriendly, especially in response to a post that was innocuous. Telling me "I take life too seriously" and questioning motives is unnecessary. 


 

To your latter point of apparent confusion, an expressive statement of incredulousness does not indicate I am not "...aware of the primary goal..." it is, again, mere social commentary on something I am skeptical about and, based on other responses, so too are a number of your fellow countrymen.

 
 
 So why the "expressive statement of incredulousness", and why sceptical? What specifically is it about the UK mission that  you are incredulous and sceptical about, if you don't mind me asking?
 
Surely you understand my confusion when you say, "after six manned lunar missions of the Apollo Program, not to mention the other unmanned missions, this lot are going to reveal something new"... when revealing something new isn't what it's all about.

 

And, "every other man and his dog has done it or something even more impressive since then"... When achieving impressive science isn't what it's all about.
 
Lets be nice to each other, we are all supposed to be friends here.

 

Apologies but, if I'm confused I seek clarification.  As I'm sure you do.