Hayabusa

Hayabusa
An artist's rendering of Hayabusa above Itokawa's surface
NamesMuses-C (before launch)
Mission typesample return
OperatorJAXA
COSPAR ID2003-019A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.27809
Mission duration7 years, 1 month and 4 days
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass510 kg[1]
Dry mass380 kg (840 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date04:29:25, 9 May 2003 (UTC) (2003-05-09T04:29:25Z)
RocketM-V
Launch siteUchinoura Space Center
End of mission
Disposalsample return capsule: recovered
spacecraft: ballistic reentry
Minerva and rover: lost contact
Last contactMinerva: 12 November 2005
Recovery datesample capsule: 07:08, 14 June 2010
Decay datespacecraft: 13 June 2010
Landing datesample capsule: 13 June 2010 (2010-06-13) 14:12 UT[2]
Landing sitenear Woomera, Australia
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach06:23, 19 May 2004
Distance3,725 km (2,315 mi)
Rendezvous with (25143) Itokawa
Arrival date12 September 2005, 1:17 UTC[3]
Departure dateDecember 2005
(25143) Itokawa lander
Landing date19 November 2005, 21:30 UTC
Return launch19 November 2005, 21:58 UTC
(25143) Itokawa lander
Landing date25 November 2005
Sample mass<1g

Hayabusa (Japanese: はやぶさ, "Peregrine falcon") was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. Hayabusa, formerly known as MUSES-C for Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft C, was launched on 9 May 2003 and rendezvoused with Itokawa in mid-September 2005. After arriving at Itokawa, Hayabusa studied the asteroid's shape, spin, topography, color, composition, density, and history. In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid and collected samples in the form of tiny grains of asteroidal material, which were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft on 13 June 2010.

The spacecraft also carried a detachable minilander, MINERVA, which failed to reach the surface.

  1. ^ "Hayabusa". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration". 20 September 2018.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference arrival was invoked but never defined (see the help page).