AstronomyTeacher

Hayabusa probe to attempt return journey - space - 13 February 2007 - New Scientist Space

Japan's problem-plagued Hayabusa spacecraft will attempt to return to Earth at the end of March, mission controllers say.

If the craft does return as planned in 2010, researchers would finally find out whether it collected the first-ever samples from an asteroid during its two landings on the tiny space rock Itokawa.

Hayabusa was meant to collect the samples by firing pellets into the surface of the 535-metre-long rock and scooping up the resulting debris. But data from two landings in November 2005 suggest the pellets never fired because the craft's onboard computer sent conflicting signals to its collection instruments. Still, mission officials hoped to bring the spacecraft back to Earth in case some asteroid dust had slipped into its collection chamber by chance.