[meteorite-list] NASA Astronomers to Observe Hayabusa Homecoming

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 14:55:51 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201006092155.o59Ltp1O028142_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2010/10-48AR.html

Rachel Hoover
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-0643
rachel.hoover at nasa.gov <mailto:rachel.hoover at nasa.gov>

Alan Brown
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
661-276-2665
alan.brown-1 at nasa.gov <mailto:alan.brown-1 at nasa.gov>

June 9, 2010
 
RELEASE : 10-48AR
 
NASA Astronomers to Observe Hayabusa Homecoming
 
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- A group of astronomers from NASA, the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other organizations are flying
to the other side of the world for a front row seat and a rare
opportunity to study a spacecraft's targeted fiery descent through
Earth's atmosphere.

A Douglas DC-8 airborne laboratory departed yesterday evening from
NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility at Palmdale, Calif., carrying
nearly 30 scientists and their instruments to Melbourne, Australia to
make final preparations for the highly-anticipated return of JAXA's
Hayabusa spacecraft. This luminous re-entry will mark the end of the
spacecraft's seven-year journey to bring a sample of asteroid Itokawa
back to Earth. Hayabusa is expected to fall to Earth over a vast,
unpopulated area of Australia at approximately midnight locally, or 7
a.m. PDT, on Sunday, June 13, 2010. Earlier this week, JAXA announced it
successfully completed the guidance of the Hayabusa spacecraft, so that
it will land in the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia.

"Hayabusa is hurtling toward Earth at an immense speed, comparable to
that of an asteroid impact," said Peter Jenniskens, the observation
campaign's principal investigator and a scientist at NASA's Ames
Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and the SETI Institute, Mountain
View, Calif. "The capsule that protects the asteroid sample will be only
6,500 feet ahead of the rest of the spacecraft, which will break into
numerous pieces, essentially making it a man-made meteor."

Jenniskens and the team of astronomers onboard the DC-8 will have their
instruments secured near the plane's specialized windows. This, paired
with their altitude of 39,000 feet far above light pollution and clouds,
will enable the scientists to study what happens when the spacecraft and
sample return capsule heat up high in the atmosphere. When Hayabusa
reaches an altitude of 190,000 feet, its heat shield will experience
temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while the gas
surrounding the capsule will reach 13,000 degrees Fahrenheit - hotter
than the surface of the sun.

The team's primary goal during the airborne mission is to study the
Hayabusa capsule's re-entry to gain technological insight into the heat
shield that designers and engineers can use while developing future
exploration vehicles. Because of Hayabusa's unique heat shield material,
shape and the tremendous interplanetary re-entry speed of 7.58 miles per
second, scientists expect its descent will provide new, valuable
information about heat shields for computer models of re-entry
conditions. JAXA's Hayabusa is expected to be the second fastest
man-made object to return to Earth; NASA's Stardust sample return
capsule set the record re-entry speed of 7.95 miles per second in
January 2006.

"The return of Hayabusa provides NASA and JAXA with a rare opportunity
to monitor the performance of an atmospheric entry vehicle at speeds
much higher than that of the space shuttle returning from low-Earth
orbit," said Jay Grinstead, the observation campaign project manager and
a research scientist at NASA Ames. "The spectrum of the light emitted by
the gas and surface at these extreme temperatures tells us about the
physics and chemistry of atmospheric entry. Our vantage point onboard
the DC-8 and the variety of instruments enable us to track the evolution
of the spectrum and compare it to simulations used for design and
analysis of entry systems."

The airborne observation team also will provide JAXA with data and
images obtained during the flight to correlate with JAXA's ground
optical and radio observations and assist in locating the capsule on
Earth. Since the breakup of the main spacecraft will be visible as well,
scientists will use images of the debris to validate computer models
astronomers use to predict how an object will fragment and disperse as
it enters Earth???s atmosphere at these high speeds.

NASA astronomers made similar airborne studies from NASA's DC-8 flying
observatory for the September 2008 re-entry of the European Space
Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle "Jules Verne," as well as the
Stardust sample return re-entry airborne campaigns. During those
missions, NASA scientists studied the light emitted by the descending
spacecraft, to better understand the mechanisms of atmospheric entry
heats of natural and man-made objects.

The Hayabusa airborne observation campaign is supported by the In-Space
Propulsion Technology Project in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA
Headquarters, Washington.

For more information about NASA and its programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For more information about the Hayabusa airborne observation campaign,
visit:

http://airborne.seti.org/hayabusa

- end -

 
Received on Wed 09 Jun 2010 05:55:51 PM PDT


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