space boom

On June 13, 2010, Hayabusa asteroid probe returned from the long and steep trip to the earth, and gave impression all over Japan. Although I was now a space maniac, I was not interested in the satellites until it saw the capsule of Hayabusa.

I think that I will talk proudly for a while. It was the Sagamihara campus of JAXA that the capsule of Hayabusa was carried to Japan and exhibited first. Then, I was just staying at the Sagamihara campus in the midst of the research training camp of JAXA. So I was No.1 in the person who looked at capsule except the Hayabusa team and reporters.

I got interested in Hayabusa and I wanted to get to know other the satellites from that time. That is, I am also one of the persons who were influenced by Hayabusa. There must be a large number of people who got interested in the universe from this time all over Japan like me. The return of Hayabusa had very big influence.

Although I think there are some person who already know, I will write about Hayabusa.

Hayabusa was launched with the M-V rocket of No. 5 in Uchinoura on May 9, 2003. It accelerated with the ion engine carried and conducted the swing-by with earth in May, 2004. This is the first in the world.

In September, 2005, Hayabusa photoed the asteroid "Itokawa" and sent the picture to the earth.

Although Hayabusa tried to land at Itokawa in November, it failed. Hayabusa received the damage by this landing, but the Hayabusa team decided to land once again through much talks. A result was successful. However, because a bullet was not discharged when it landed, we got no choice but to expect that the sample of Itokawa went into the capsule with the shock of landing.In practice, about 1500 particles were collected in the capsule returned.

Communication with Hayabusa haved stopped on November 28. However, we were able to receive the electric wave from Hayabusa on January 23, 2006. And Hayabusa continued flying aiming at the return to the earth.

And at last, Hayabusa rushed in the atmosphere on June 13, 2010, and the capsule landed in the Woomera desert in south Australia. Although the main part of Hayabusa has been burned out at the time of an atmosphere entry, the figure impressed people in the world.

Hayabusa returned three years later than the schedule through such many troubles. The Sample Return Project from an asteroid was internationally unparalleled. This result became what is accepted globally.

Although I wrote about Hayabusa for a long time, the space boom started all over Japan taking advantage of the return of this Hayabusa. Moreover, after the return of Hayabusa, there were many remarkable astronomical events. I will give some examples.

・The total eclipse of the moon was seen in many areas of Japan on December 10, 2011.

・The annular solar eclipse was seen in some areas of the Pacific coast at the early morning of May 21, 2012.

・Transit of Venus was seen in many areas focusing on western part of Japan from the morning to afternoon of June 6, 2012.

Thus, probably, the space boom came to Japan, since many interesting astronomical events overlapped. And I can think that space boom still continues.