“We love you, take care Hayabusa2”
Brian May
“We’ve collected a part of the solar system’s history,” Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) project manager Yuichi Tsuda told a news conference shortly after the successful touchdown was confirmed.
“We have never gathered subsurface material from a celestial body further away than the moon,” he added.
“We did it and we succeeded in a world first.”
Hayabusa rendezvoused with the asteroid in June last year and dropped two rovers, Minerva and Mascot, onto its surface, which have been collecting material for return ever since.
The Hayabusa mothership itself is powered by four solar-electric ion thrusters which, although comparatively low-powered are extremely efficient. The 66 kg of xenon reaction mass they carry can change the speed of the spacecraft by up to 4,500 mph.
Astrophysicist (and Queen guitarist) professor Brian May sent a video message to the probe’s team ahead of the landing.
“The world is watching. We love you, take care Hayabusa2,” he said.
- Space
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