[meteorite-list] Ambitious Mission Hopes to Return Bits of Asteroid(Hayabusa)

[Martin Altmann]

>a four-year $100 million
>mission

>to attempt to capture a total of one gram of surface

Do the Japanese know, that they could buy the stuff for a few bucks per kilo
on ebay?

Do the collectors, who complain that 2-8$ for a regolith breccia is a
rip-off, know, that the Japanese spend 100 millions for it?

Buckleboo

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 5:46 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Ambitious Mission Hopes to Return Bits of
Asteroid(Hayabusa)


>
> http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0508/22hayabusa/
>
> Ambitious mission hopes to return bits of asteroid
> BY STEPHEN CLARK
> SPACEFLIGHT NOW
> August 22, 2005
>
> Slowly pulling alongside a space rock the size of several typical city
> blocks, a Japanese probe is preparing to begin scooping the first dusty
> samples of material from the surface of an asteroid this fall for an
> eventual return to Earth.
>
> Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft is halfway through a four-year $100 million
> mission to chase down a small celestial target, retrieve pieces of its
> rocky crust, and return them safely to Earth in a capsule designed to
> survive the intense heat as it enters the atmosphere and parachutes to a
> safe landing.
......