The United States, China and other countries are developing a program for manned exploration of the solar system. Against this backdrop, Japan has clearly declared itself with the help of the Hayabusa research probes, which delivered particles from the asteroid to the earth, and Hayabusa-2. Where is Japan's limited-budget research program heading?
2024: to the satellite of Mars
"This is a very daring mission," said the head of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Naoki Okumura during a press conference on April 10 at the National Space Research Center. The mission, abbreviated as MMX, is to land a research probe on the Mars satellites Phobos (23 kilometers in diameter) or Deimos (12 kilometers in diameter). The probe must take soil samples and deliver them to Earth. According to plans, the device will be launched to Mars in September 2024 and will return back in September 2029.
There is evidence that there was water on Mars. Perhaps traces of life will be found there. On planets closer to the Sun, water evaporates. On those further, it freezes. Mars is farther from the Sun, but it is unclear why there could be water there. Participants in this program believe that celestial bodies farther from the Sun collided with Mars, thereby delivering water to it. In their opinion, if you study the composition of the surface of the satellites, clues can be found.
In 2011, Russia tried to deliver soil samples from Phobos, but this attempt failed. At the same time, in 2010, the Japanese research probe Hayabusa successfully delivered particles to Earth from the asteroid Itokawa, which orbits between Earth and Mars.
Hayabusa 2, launched in 2014, is expected to arrive in 2018 on the asteroid Ryugu, located between Earth and Mars, and return in 2020. The bottom line is whether the MMX mission will be able to apply the technologies of the Hayabusa program.
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Where will the second device go?
Japan's space development budget is smaller than that of Russia and the United States, which operate in two areas: military and civil. NASA has an annual budget of 1.8 trillion yen. European Space Research Administration - 600 billion yen. Russia - 500 billion yen. At the same time, Japan's budget is only 300 billion yen. The challenge is how to use these tools correctly.
In accordance with the Japanese space program, three medium-sized research vehicles (about 30 billion yen) and five small spacecraft (10-15 billion yen) are to be built in the next ten years. This program does not include large equipment. The MMX program concerns the first medium-sized device, but the fate of subsequent devices has not yet been determined. Research groups vie with each other to get the budget they need.
One of the candidates for the second apparatus is the program of exploration of the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter, planned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for the period after 2025. It is assumed that these asteroids, orbiting Jupiter, retained the substance that existed during the formation of the solar system. Direct studies of ice and rocks on the surface of asteroids will help to unravel the mystery of why the planets of the solar system were lined up in this order.
A distinctive feature is the use of proprietary solar sail technology, which activates the ion drive using solar panels. The journey to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter takes more than ten years, so solar panels are glued onto a thin layer of rubber, which resemble the sail of a yacht (40 square meters) and replace fuel.
Scientist Osamu Mori stresses: “NASA also plans to investigate Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, but their craft should just pass alongside them. We want to develop the technology of Hayabusa, which has carried out high-precision analysis of asteroid particles."
Nevertheless, there are a lot of competitors. Organizations such as the JAXA Space Research Institute, the University of Tokyo and so on are participating. There are programs such as Lite Bird (search for traces of primitive gravitational waves that existed before the big bang) and Spica (the next generation infrared space observatory). The Japanese government plans to make a choice in two years, so the degree of competition is likely to increase.
Exploration of the lunar surface next year
In December, it is planned to launch an Indian rocket, which will deliver the Japanese lunar rover Hakuto to the moon. It should land on the moon next January. "Hakuto" will travel more than 500 meters on the lunar surface and send photographs and videos to Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Slim space probe is also due to go to the moon in 2019. In addition, there is a team that seeks to find evidence of life on the moon of Saturn, Enceladus, but a detailed program is not yet available.
There are a large number of solar system exploration programs that should replace Hayabusa, but it will be difficult to demonstrate scientific excellence of the highest quality in a tight budget.
Shyuichi Abe