Itokawa Up Close
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JAXA released this image of Itokawa’s southern hemisphere. The detail is fantastic and is due to the low altitude of Hayabusa and low solar elevation angles.
Boulders stand out nicely in the image; it is conjectured meteorites are fragments of these asteroids coming into our atmosphere, yet to be proven. Hayabusa is to collect and return samples of this asteroid and that might show a link between asteroids and meteorites. That’s if, everything goes well with the mission. It’s too bad I can’t find any information on the resolution of the image, I’d like to know how big those boulders are.
There have been reports of problems and the following is from the JAXA website:
In order that the flight can be carried out and completed until the return to the Earth, the fuel consumption required for stabilizing the attitude has to be reduced, and a strenuous effort has been poured to devise the strategy including a number of firing tests in vacuum on the ground. A new control scheme making the firing impulse enough small has now been developed assuring the attitude control resolution to be well managed. This assures the fuel amount required is adequate within that remains. The on-orbit function test was already conducted and it was verified functioning by the actual flight hardware and software aboard. The Hayabusa project team concluded the flight operation until the return to the Earth is feasibly performed, as long as the existing instruments and hardware aboard continue working normally as they are.
Here’s hoping things go very well and the mission is a complete success!
UPDATE: Check out Isana’s comment. Links to superb images and some with resolution info….Many thanks Isana!!
Here is the number （from press conference)
size : 540m x 270m x 210m
volume : 0.018 cubic kilometer
density 2.3 +/- 0.3
period of rotation : 12.1h
And there are other images in Japanese page.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig03.jpg
[caption] +90 degree.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig04.jpg
[caption] +270 degree.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig05.jpg
[caption] 0 degree (from north pole).
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig06.jpg
[caption] +180 degree, large rocks and Woomera area.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig07.jpg
[caption] Cracked rock, hidden crater and regolith area.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig08.jpg
[caption] Spectra of landing site.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig09-1.jpg
[caption] Gravitational map Model-A
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig09-2.jpg
[caption] Gravitational map Model-B
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig10.jpg
[caption] Slope map.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig11.jpg
[caption]MUSES-SEA area:First landing site(Point A),some craters and exposed rocks.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/image/1101/fig12.jpg
[caption]Woomera area:Second landing site(PointB) and cracked rock.
Here is the article.
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/snews/2005/1101_hayabusa.shtml
hi there. since childhood i’ve had a keen interest in astronomy (though i’m into lit and computer science presently). just wanted to say that your weblog is a great resource and read. i hope u don’t mind the link.
more power!
That..is..just..awesome.
That’s unbelievable. It looks like a real place that you could actually set foot on. I can picture those boulders being held on there by low gravity, such that you could dislodge one pretty easily.
How the heck did they catch such a perfect picture of a meteorite? I think it’s a fake. probably a rock they found in the desert or something… the same one they did the lunar landing on.