LEGO Cuusoo Hayabusa Building Instructions

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INDeX

4 ...............................................................................................................About JAXA

5 .........................................................................Asteroid explorer HAYABUSA

6 ...................................................................................................The solar system

8 .........................................................................................................................Mission

8 ......................................................................................................................Samples

9 ...................................................................................... The asteroid ITOKAWA

11 .............................................................................................................. The voyage

12 .............................................................. Project Manager J. KAWAGUCHI

13 ........................................................................................ Building Instructions

86 ..................................................................................... A word from DAISUKE

87 ........................................................................... From idea to ﬁ nal product

88 ..................................................................................About LEGO

CUUSOO

AN INcReDIbLe JOuRNeY

When the Hayabusa spacecraft successfully returned to Earth on 13 June 2010, it was carrying a unique and precious cargo – particles of dust from the surface of an asteroid. The seven-year mission, carried out by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is not only one of the greatest technological feats of modern times, it has also given us new and invaluable insights into the birth and evolution of our solar system.

イラスト：池下章裕/©AkihiroIkeshita

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan’s national aerospace agency. It was created in 2003, when three separate organizations merged into a single institution to com-

bine advanced research and technological development with the

launch of satellites and spacecraft into space.

Under the motto of “Reaching for the skies, exploring space”, JAXA continues to challenge unknown and unexplored frontiers, striving to succeed with its wide range of research and development missions in order to contribute to the overall peace and

happiness of humankind.

AbOut JAXA

AsteROID eXPLOReR hAYAbusA

The technological challenges facing the Hayabusa mission were

immense. It would be the ﬁ rst spacecraft deliberately designed to make contact with the surface of an asteroid in order to gather physical soil samples for analysis back on Earth. As the distances were great and little was known about the asteroid on which it would land, Hayabusa, which means falcon in Japanese, created new standards for space technology in the areas of ion engines, autonomous con-

trol and optical navigation

Launch date: 9th May 2003

Re-entry date: 13th June 2010

Weight: 510 kg (including propellant)

Full width: 6 m

Main body: 1.0m x 1.1m x 1.6m (Hexahedron)

Main engine: Ion engines (microwave-discharge type)

Propellant: Xenon, Hydrazine, Dinitrogen tetroxide

Velocity at re-entry: 12km/sec

Traveling distance: 6 billion km

AsteROID eXPLOReR hAYAbusA

FActs

推進剤込み

小惑星イトカワ

Itokawa

地球

Earth

火星

Mars

月

Moon

金星

Venus

水星

Mercury

太陽

Sun

木星

Jupiter

木星

Asteroid belt

the sOLAR sYsteM

Around 4.5 billion years ago, our solar system was born from a massive cosmic dust cloud. Our own planet, Earth, the third in the solar system, became a life-friendly planet. Humankind has always gazed at the stars, later observing the diﬀ erent planets through telescopes. Eventually, advanced technology allowed us to send space probes for on-sight observation of celestial bodies. Huge telescopes also enabled us to discover whole new worlds and revolutionized our understanding of what a planetary system is. Though we may sometimes think modern technology has solved most of the mysteries of space and humankind, the exploration of the origin of life and the universe has only just begun.

土星

Saturn

天王星

Uranus

海王星

Neptune

冥王星

Pluto

©JAXA/NASA

Before the Hayabusa mission, the Moon was the only astronomical body from which physical samples of the surface had been gathered. But, since the Moon has changed greatly over time due to thermal processes, these samples could tell us little about the origins of our solar system. Asteroids, being smaller, were thought to contain a more pristine record of the planet-forming era. If a soil sample could be obtained from the surface of an asteroid, it could provide new clues about the ﬁ rst stages of a solar nebula and the raw materials that formed planets. This became the goal of the Hayabusa mission.

More than 1500 individual particles of dust from the surface of Itokawa were found in the capsule of Hayabusa when it returned to Earth – the largest only 0,3 mm in size. Detailed analysis has shown components such as olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase and iron sulﬁ de were present. Researchers now believe Itokawa was formed immediately after the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, when celestial bodies, such as the smaller asteroids, collided together.

MIssION sAMPLes

The asteroid Itokawa is one of the near-earth objects orbiting between Earth and Mars. It was discovered in 1998 and later named 25143 Itokawa after the pioneering Japanese rocket scientist, Dr. Hideo Itokawa.

Relatively small in size, Itokawa measures only 535m x 294m x 209m and has an irregular shape. While some parts of its surface are rough and rock-strewn, others are smooth and more even. Analysis of the dust particles collected by Hayabusa show they have been there for a few million years. Tests also suggest that Itokawa is probably made up of interior fragments of a larger asteroid

that broke apart.

Prominent regions on the surface of Itokawa were given place names related

to the Hayabusa project.

the AsteROID ItOKAWA

Departure /

Touchdown to the surface of Itokawa /

Shadow of Hayabusa on Itokawa / Re-entry of Hayabusa /

the VOYAGe

Hayabusa’s voyage started on 9 May 2003 when it was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center (now known as the Uchinoura Space Center). The spacecraft’s main engines are four ion engines with the acceleration power as weak as a sigh, but with excellent fuel eﬃciency. The ion engines worked near-continuously for two years, slowly propelling the spacecraft toward its rendezvous with the Itokawa asteroid in mid-September 2005. On the way, Hayabusa also experienced a gravity assist from Earth.

Hayabusa surveyed the asteroid surface from a distance of about 20 km, before carefully approaching the surface for the collection of samples. This was a critical moment for the mission because the long communication delay prohibited Earth-based real-time commanding and Hayabusa had to utilize its own autonomous navigation capabilities.

On 20 November 2005, the ﬁrst attempt was made to land. However, a sensor detected an obstacle during the autonomous navigation, destabilizing Hayabusa’s attitude. After bounding bouncing a few times on the surface, Hayabusa ﬁnally landed, and sat at a leaning attitude for about 30 minutes. Six days later the second landing operation was successful as planned. However, it was revealed that no pellets to crash the surface had been ﬁred, but there was a probability that some dust may have been kicked up into the sampling horn by the landing impacts.

After that, Hayabusa experienced a number of problems. A series of communication glitches led to the control center losing all contact with Hayabusa for six long weeks, and would eventually add three extra years to the journey home. On the way, all but one of the four ion engines would fail and the team had to rig parts of two of the failed engines to work together and act as a single engine.

Through all these mishaps the scientists and engineers in the team worked together to ﬁnd creative solutions that allowed the mission to continue. On 13 June 2010, Hayabusa ﬁnally made it home - complete with its precious cargo - ending one of the most spectacular voyages in the history of space exploration.

A new era in space research has come. Hayabusa aimed to be the world’s ﬁ rst round trip to a solar object including a surface landing. This project ushered in a new age of space exploration where samples and resources from other solar objects can be transported back to Earth. I envision in the future that Deep Space Ports will be constructed where spaceships can be anchored for refueling and refurbishment before setting oﬀ again on longer and longer journeys. Go and create new spaceships based on the Hayabusa spacecraft.

PROJect MANAGeR J. KAWAGuchI

Project manager J. KAWAGUCHI