The Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) has published sensational images of a mysterious object docked to the asteroid Itokawa. The representatives of the agency did not give any comments about the object, but now the reasons for the malfunctions accompanying the mission to study this asteroid, carried out by the Hayabusa space probe, are becoming clear.
The size of the object is about 100 meters across
September 6, 2005. The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa entered the orbit of the asteroid Itokawa. The probe, formerly known as MUSES-C, was launched in May 2003 to deliver a sample of asteroid material to Earth. According to JAXA, on the morning of September 4, Hayabusa was only 1000 kilometers from the target, where it was moving at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour. Asteroid Itokawa is a strongly elongated body about 600 meters long and about two hundred in diameter. The trip was not without serious problems: in July and October 2005, two gyroscopes of the stabilization system, which should ensure a stable position of the probe in a near-asteroid orbit, failed on the device. Only one gyroscope remained in working order, therefore, to hold the probe, it was necessary to turn on the shunting engines. MCC specialists managed to develop such a scheme of the attitude control system in order to minimize the previously unplanned fuel consumption for these purposes. And the scientists still had the hope that the mission program would be fully implemented. However, due to breakdowns, certain adjustments were made to the mission program. For example, the operating time of the probe in the vicinity of the asteroid was reduced by a month. In addition, instead of three short landings, Hayabusa had only two to complete. But before them there will be a rehearsal of the descent. The rehearsal was scheduled for November 4th. And the contact of the asteroid with the collection of soil samples is scheduled for November 12 and 25. However, due to breakdowns, certain adjustments were made to the mission program. For example, the operating time of the probe in the vicinity of the asteroid was reduced by a month. In addition, instead of three short landings, Hayabusa had only two to complete. But before them there will be a rehearsal of the descent. The rehearsal was scheduled for November 4th. And the contact of the asteroid with the collection of soil samples is scheduled for November 12 and 25. However, due to breakdowns, certain adjustments were made to the mission program. For example, the operating time of the probe in the vicinity of the asteroid was reduced by a month. In addition, instead of three short landings, Hayabusa had only two to complete. But before them there will be a rehearsal of the descent. The rehearsal was scheduled for November 4th. And the contact of the asteroid with the collection of soil samples is scheduled for November 12 and 25.
12-th of September. The probe was 20 kilometers from the surface of a celestial body and performed a more detailed survey of the asteroid's surface. The pictures show that there are plains and mountains on the minor planet, and scientists hope to reconstruct the history of the asteroid from the landscape. The spacecraft began mapping Itokawa. As noted in the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), terrestrial laboratories have only samples of lunar soil, and matter from other planets or small bodies of the solar system came to Earth only naturally - in the form of meteorites.
The meeting of the Hayabusa probe with the asteroid Itokawa, scheduled for November 4, was postponed indefinitely. When Hayabusa began to approach the celestial body on November 3, due to the "anomalous signal" transmitted by it, the descent was stopped. The distance between the two bodies at that moment was a little less than a kilometer. It was assumed, however, that Hayabusa would approach the asteroid very close and "drop" on it a miniature MINERVA probe capable of jumping over uneven ground.
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An attempt to land the research robot Minerva on the asteroid Itokawa from the Japanese Hayabusa probe ended in failure. On Saturday, November 12, at the command of the Japanese Space Agency, the Minerva robot separated from the probe, located 60 meters from the surface of the asteroid, which had a cylindrical shape (10 centimeters high, 12 centimeters in diameter, the names of 877 490 people were engraved on the capsule, who had checked in before launch) on the mission website) and weighed 591 grams. The cost of the robot is about $ 10 million. It was equipped with a device for jumping 5-10 meters, lined with solar panels, three video cameras and six highly sensitive sensors. The robot was supposed to explore the surface of a celestial body, but the Agency immediately lost contact with it and did not rule outthat he could fly into outer space due to the low gravity on the asteroid, which is only one hundred thousandth of the earth. Then preparations began for the landing on the asteroid of the probe itself to collect soil samples, which was scheduled for November 19 and 25.
The first attempt to "land" the Japanese Hayabusa probe on the surface of the asteroid Itokawa was scheduled for November 20. However, according to the Japanese space agency JAXA, the first contact with the asteroid failed. Hayabusa descended to a height of 40 m above the surface, dropped the target, which he was supposed to use as a reference when touching, and then descended to 17 m. At that moment, the ground MCC lost contact with the probe for about 3 hours. Then the connection appeared, but Hayabusa could not fulfill the planned maneuver (as the scientists initially thought). Due to a failure, the cause of which was not clarified, the probe went offline, recorded information about the state of its systems and transmitted it to the ground MCC for analysis.
A little later, it was announced that the Japanese space probe Hayabusa nevertheless touched the asteroid Itokawa on November 20, 2005, but could not take samples of the asteroid's material. This is the conclusion reached by specialists from the Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) after processing and studying the data transmitted by the spacecraft to Earth. A detailed analysis of the data received from the Hayabusa station, from which it follows that the device nevertheless landed and spent half an hour on the asteroid. According to a JAXA report, Hayabusa began its descent at 12:00 GMT on November 19 from an altitude of 1 km. The navigation and guidance systems worked normally, and at 17:30 on November 19, the probe was instructed from the Earth to land on a pre-designated area of the Itokawa surface. According to preliminary estimates, the deviation from the point of the intended landing was 30 cm. The trajectories of motion of the asteroid and Hayabusa and information on the dynamics of the change in the height of the vehicle above the asteroid were also obtained. The navigation marker (a small sphere with a reflective coating) was released by the vehicle and reached the surface of the asteroid - this fact is confirmed by the obtained images. The probe continued its descent and at 6:40 pm, at a distance of 17 m from the surface of Itokawa, it proceeded to the final stage of landing. Immediately after that, communication with the device was lost and resumed only on November 20 at 0:30. Nevertheless, information from the probe received by JAXA indicates that the probe landed on the surface of Itokawa and remained there for half an hour. A repeat attempt to land the probe was scheduled for November 25, 2005. “This is the first successful landing of a Japanese space station on the asteroid Itokawa to date,” reports JAXA. Previous attempts to get acquainted with the asteroid were unsuccessful - on November 12, 2005, a miniature robot "Minerva" was lost, which the probe tried to release onto the asteroid.
November 25, 2005 The Japanese probe Hayabusa reached the surface of the asteroid Itokawa and took soil samples to deliver them to Earth. The spacecraft was on the surface of Itokawa for only a few seconds. Judging by the data received by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), the probe was operating normally, and the soil sampling was successful. Four days later, a gas leak from an ion engine was found near the Hayabusa probe. JAXA spokesman Atsushi Ako said that for this reason, the probe began to move unevenly, and it had to be put into "safe mode". The solar panels of the apparatus were turned towards the Sun so that the apparatus would align its trajectory. The ion engine built into the Japanese spacecraft propels it outward by means of an ejected plasma, that is, an ionized inert gas. Initially, there were about 65 kilograms of xenon on board. In addition, the Hayabusa has a conventional jet engine for maneuvers.
On November 30, 2005, it was reported that the Japanese space probe Hayabusa is experiencing problems with jet engines. Communication with the probe was practically lost on Monday, November 28, and it was only on Tuesday, November 29 that JAXA specialists received a signal from Hayabusa. "If we fail to revive the engines, the return of the probe to Earth will become impossible," said project leader Professor Junichiro Kawaguchi. On November 29, it was possible to restore the operation of the auxiliary antenna, on December 1, telemetry data were obtained using this antenna. True, the information transfer rate was only 8 bits per second, the connection was weak and often interrupted. But the information received made it possible to determine that there were serious problems in the orientation system and in the power supply system. Around December 1, the final loss of energy led to a shutdown or partial reboot of most of the onboard instruments. On December 2, an attempt was made to restart the chemical engine of the apparatus, but it was not possible to achieve its full operation: there is a thrust, but it is very weak. On December 3, it turned out that the main antenna of the probe deviated from the given direction by 10 °. To restore the required orientation of the spacecraft, a jet of xenon had to be released from the ion engine. On December 5, the main antenna took the correct position and managed to receive a new portion of telemetry information. As of December 6, the distance between the Hayabusa probe and the asteroid Itokawa was about 550 km, and between the probe and the Earth - 290 million km. The probe itself at this time was moving towards the Earth at a relative speed of about 5 km / h. On December 9, communication with the device was completely lost.
Where are the craters on the asteroid Itokawa? They are not there, which is quite unexpected. The Japanese robotic probe Hayabusa in 2005 approached an asteroid that could cross Earth's orbit. The device transmitted photographs of a surface unlike any so far photographed in the solar system - a surface devoid of craters. How can you explain the absence of such common round depressions?
When Japanese scientists opened sterile canisters from the compartments of the space probe Hayabusa, which made a mission to the asteroid Itokawa, they hoped that there was at least a small amount of material in the tanks of the device for analysis. And their expectations were met. The exploration probe delivered particles (dust) of the asteroid, although the amount was negligible.
Scientists have established that there are changes in matter on the surface of Itokawa, and given that the asteroid was heated for a long time at temperatures up to 800 degrees, these changes do not correspond to those expected from an asteroid of this size (asteroid Itokawa currently has dimensions of about 500 m in diameter) …
Therefore, it was concluded that the asteroid Itokawa is, in fact, the remnants of a much larger asteroid (more than 20 km across), which was destroyed. This is a classic pile of rubble that has been gravitationally pulled together into a small mixed pile by gravity.
In 2015, Japan plans to re-launch a space probe, with the aim of obtaining rock samples of the asteroid 1999 JU3. This time the mission will be performed by the Hayabusa 2 probe.
What is this strange object? Maybe it is a spacecraft of another civilization or an alien probe leading the extraction of minerals. Why did the Japanese decide to send a probe to this particular asteroid, and not to any other? Maybe they noticed this mysterious anomaly much earlier?
After analyzing various data, it turned out that different parts of the peanut-like space body have different densities. This means that it was formed as a result of the collision of two smaller bodies.
Astronomers have determined that the so-called Yarkovsky effect acts on the asteroid, which determines the change in the speed and axis of rotation of a small celestial body under the influence of solar heat. Because of this effect, the rotation speed of the asteroid Itokawa slowly increases: the change in the rotation period is only 0.045 seconds per year.
Theoretical calculations predicted a different, much larger figure, which means that the density of a celestial body is uneven. One half of Itokawa has a density of 1,750 kilograms per cubic meter, and the other half has a density of 2850 kilograms per cubic meter.
Itokawa is an asteroid of the Apollo family, spectroscopic class S (IV). The length of the asteroid is 548 m. The asteroid rotates with a period of 12.32 hours, the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. Itokawa has an irregular shape, it can be regarded as consisting of a smaller part ("head") and a larger ("body") … In appearance, the asteroid is very different from other studied asteroids. Its surface can be divided into 2 types of landscape: rugged terrain, covered with a large number of stones and boulders, and plains at the "isthmus" ".
Most asteroids are covered mainly by fine regolith - stony dust from collisions with small meteorites. It turned out that Itokawa contains only small amounts of such a cover on the surface - its fine material consists of particles comparable in size to gravel. Some scientists believe that the fine dust has been carried away or moved below the surface. Moreover, the fragments of the regolith are not distributed over the entire surface, but are concentrated on flat spaces, which account for a fifth of the asteroid's area. On the rest of the surface, boulders of a meter in diameter are scattered, which suggest that some process is moving the gravel into flat areas. One of the possible mechanisms for the movement of gravel is collisions with cosmic rocks, which caused the asteroid to shake for several hours.
Such shaking could also affect the presence of craters on the asteroid Itokawa. Scientists saw fewer such formations than expected, only sixty of them measure several meters. Small craters might not have formed because small meteorites crashed into the asteroid and destroyed boulders on the surface without forming a crater. Scientists are also divided over the formation of the asteroid. Estimates of its density have shown that 39% of the volume of Itokawa consists of empty spaces. It could have formed either at once in the form of one large pile of cobblestones or formed from two colliding parts. Its shape speaks in favor of the latest version, but objects in the region of the asteroid formation move at a speed of 2 km / s, which is too much for two colliding objects to stick together. Apart from this, the composition of the asteroid also remains an unresolved issue. Spectral studies carried out by the Hayabusa probe showed that the stones were not exposed to heat in the past. However, surveys from Earth with a telescope in Hawaii showed that Itokawa was partially melted after heating to more than 1000 ° C.