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Science 18 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5751, p. 1105
DOI: 10.1126/science.310.5751.1105b
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ScienceScope

A tiny robotic rover intended to inspect the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa is drifting helplessly in space following a botched deployment. Dubbed Minerva, the rover was supposed to take images of the asteroid from which its parent craft, Hayabusa (shown as a shadow approaching Itokawa), will later collect rock samples. But a malfunction released Minerva 200 meters above the surface rather than the intended 60 meters, leaving it outside Itokawa's gravitational pull.

Figure 1
CREDIT: ISAS/JAXA
"It's really a shame," says Hayabusa project manager Jun'ichiro Kawaguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Still, the agency hopes Hayabusa's descent close to the surface of Itokawa to release Minerva will pay off later this month when it attempts touchdowns to retrieve samples. Hayabusa is looking for clues about the composition of planetary bodies and how they have been transformed by "space weathering."




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)