The magazine MAQ September 2018 MAQ Magazine November 2018 | Page 297

It has been four years since the Hayabusa’s dramatic return from space,bringing back the world’s first samples from an asteroid. To further clarify the mystery of the origin and evolution of human beings, the Hayabusa2 is leaving for space. This video explains the special features and significance of the Hayabusa2 mission in an easy and simple manner.

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, colour, 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.

MAQ/November 2018 / 07