The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the Hayabusa2 Wednesday, sending off the space probe to a six-year journey to an asteroid and back to collect samples that will help scientists learn more about the origins of life.
Hayabusa2 was originally scheduled to launch Nov. 30 but had to be delayed no thanks to bad weather. Had the Wednesday launch been unsuccessful, its last chance to take off before 2016 would be on Dec. 7. The Hayabusa2 launch comes less than a month after the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission successfully landed on comet 67P.
Named after the peregrine falcon, the Hayabusa2 intends to map the surface of its target asteroid, 1999 JU3, before touching down. As it descends, small explosives will be deployed, blasting a crater on the asteroid. The resulting debris will then be collected by the probe.
Scientists are keen on studying asteroids because they are thought to have formed when the solar system began, potentially containing organic matter that may have led to life on Earth. Hayabusa2, however, won't be seeing its target asteroid until 2018 and scientists won't be getting their samples until 2020 when the probe returns.
"In this launch of the H-2A rocket, we will execute a difficult operation called a long coast operation. For most H-2A rocket launches, the satellite is separated about 30 minutes after the launch, but for this mission, we have a long coast operation and the H-2A rocket will do one orbit around Earth and when the rocket comes back over Japan, we will turn on the second stage engine again. We accelerate the spacecraft away from Earth and separate," said Hitoshi Kuninaka, Hayabusa2 project manager.
An earlier Hayabusa probe was launched but it was not able to collect as many samples as scientists have hoped. However, it still made history as the first vessel to ever return with asteroid samples. It went on a seven-year mission which ended in 2010, landing in an Australian desert. It first met its target the Itokawa asteroid 180 million miles away from Earth in 2005.
Like the first probe, Hayabusa2 also used the H-2A rocket which Japan locally developed. An H-2A rocket was destroyed in 2003 after it veered off course while carrying two spy satellites.
Aside from using the same rocket as the first probe, Hayabusa2 will be fitted with improved landing gear, a more sophisticated capsule for its lander, and several rover-like devices to help it better take samples.
