Japanese Probe Set to Land in Australian Outback Sunday, Returning First Asteroid Sample to Earth
Hayabusa An artist's concept of the Hayabusa probe returning to Earth. Its sample return capsule will separate from the mothership and land in Australia Sunday. JAXA via BBC A Japanese meteor-investigator probe will become a meteor itself when it returns to Earth over the weekend. The Hayabusa probe is screaming toward Earth at asteroid speed, according to scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center. Scientists hope it is carrying samples obtained from a 2005 visit to the small asteroid Itokawa. The probe's sample-return capsule will separate from the main probe and reenter the atmosphere at 7.58 miles per second early Sunday. Scientists from NASA, the Japanese Space Agency and other organizations are planning to watch its fiery descent to learn more about how objects behave and break up during high-speed reentry. When Hayabusa ("falcon" in Japanese) reaches an altitude of 190,000 feet, its heat shield will reach temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while...