more problems for Hayabusa
The Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft, which over the last couple of weeks became the first unmanned spacecraft to land and take off again from another celestial object (and which did so completely autonomously the first time), is having more problems. After successfully sampling the asteroid Itokawa (another first) it was to return to earth in mid-December.
However, there has been a problem with one of the position-control thrusters on Hayabusa. Because of this problem, the JAXA mission control is unable to aim Hayabusa's antenna to the earth, a necessary procedure to begin the return mission.
This is one of a string of problems which have plagued the mission, from the loss of the Minerva robot lander to a gyroscope glitch to the loss of signal during the first landing.
Technorati Tags: Space, Asteroids
1 comment:
Here is the solution to Tuesday's sudoku:
648 932 715
752 164 839
391 785 264
814 276 593
523 849 671
976 513 428
487 691 352
165 328 947
239 457 186
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