However, it is not known if the container that was supposed to contain samples from the soil of the asteroid Itoqua actually contains them
The Japanese space agency JAXA issued a press release this week (January 30, 2007) in which it wrote that it had succeeded in obtaining some of the essential milestones for returning all of the samples of the Yabusa to Earth, however the condition of the spacecraft is not good.
* 4 of the 11 lithium battery cells are not working.
* The good debauches have been loaded successfully
* Thanks to the electrical power, all the samples were transferred to the capsule that should return to Earth and that the lid of the capsule was successfully closed.
* Jaxa is working to begin preparations to return to Earth.
However, the Japanese agency emphasizes that it is not known if the container actually contains any samples. Data from the Yabusa spacecraft show that the projectile that was supposed to be fired at the asteroid to fling particles from it into the spacecraft's thruster was never fired. However, Itokawa's gravitational force is so small that the brush's contact with the surface is enough to pull a few particles up into the container.
Each grain of dust from Itoqua, no matter how tiny, would represent the first sample ever returned from the surface of an asteroid, so as long as Jaxa is able to communicate with the spacecraft, it's worth trying to bring it home.
All the news about the Yabusa mission from the old site are concentrated in one file on the new site
