Hayabusa Earth
Swing-by
(20 May 2004) The Space
Engineering Spacecraft "Hayabusa" (MUSES-C) launched on May 9, 2003, by the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been flying smoothly in a
heliocentric orbit for about a year using its ion engines. On May 19, Hayabusa
came close to the Earth, and successfully carried out an earth swing-by to
place it in a new elliptical orbit toward the asteroid "Itokawa".
The Earth swing-by is a technique to significantly change
direction of an orbit and/or speed by using the Earth's gravity without
consuming onboard propellant. Hayabusa came closest to the Earth at 3:22 p.m.
on May 19 (Japan Standard Time) at an altitude of approximately 3700 km. After
its precise orbit is determined in a week, Hayabusa will restart its ion
engines to fly toward Itokawa.
Hayabusa acquired earth images using
its onboard optical navigation camera (which is for detecting a relative
position to an asteroid and for scientific observations) as it neared the
Earth.
(source: JAXA)
