Hayabusa Update

It Might Be Long
Before it gets back to us.

The trouble-plagued Hayabusa space probe has developed engine problems that will delay its return to Earth by about three years to June 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said Wednesday.

"We are disappointed about the postponement of the departure, but we will work hard to have the probe back to Earth as long as there is a possibility," professor Junichiro Kawaguchi, a project manager, said.

A glitch occurred in the Hayabusa's engine on Nov. 26, when it landed on and took off from the asteroid Itokawa for the second time.

The probe was supposed to have fired a metal ball into the surface of the asteroid, located about 290 million kilometers from Earth, and collect samples. But the probe apparently failed to fire the ball.

Fuel started leaking from the craft's chemical engine used for positioning immediately after it took off from the asteroid.

The leak stopped, but the fuel has collected in other parts of the probe and is spurting out sporadically. This has made the craft's position unstable and has almost completely cut off JAXA's communication with the probe since Dec. 9.

Work to determine the cause of the trouble cannot be carried out under such conditions.

So much for that one.

Branson Plans For Space Tourist Customers
Here's the link.

Virgin Galactic, the British company created by entrepreneur Richard Branson to send tourists into space, announced yesterday it will build a $225 million spaceport in New Mexico.
The company said up to 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for a seat on one of its manned commercial flights, including a core group of 100 "founders" who have paid the initial $200,000 cost of a flight upfront. Virgin Galactic is planning to begin flights in late 2008 or early 2009.

New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said construction of the spaceport, to be built largely underground near the White Sands Missile Range, could begin in early 2007.

Virgin will have a 20-year lease on the facility, with annual payments of $1 million for the first five years and rising to cover the cost of the project by the end of the lease.

"Virgin is the beginning and many other space companies will follow," Homans said.

Virgin Galactic said it had chosen New Mexico as the site for its headquarters because of its steady climate, free airspace, low population density and high altitude.

So the space tourism era is nigh upon us.