This day will decide whether or not Hayabusa will reach Itokawa
Don't talk about the exterior . . .
But if the force is excessive, the exterior will...
Good job so far.
May 19th, the rehearsal is over with.
Hayabusa sent a beautiful photograph of Earth to us.
It's bright and beautiful.
Well, how is it?
On May 18th, 2200 hours, and 295,000 km until earth,
<big>Instantaneous 8 km/s Increase in Speed</big>
Here, Lipovitan.
Clackety-clack
At 3 p.m. in its closest approach to Earth ...
Screeeeach!
... it's passing through 3700 km above the skies.
She's accelerating up to 34 km/s! At a speed that that would take her from Tokyo to Osaka in 15 seconds ...
Whoosh!!
... Hayabusa began her trip to Itokawa.
* Photograph<p>For Hayabusa-san's autonomous optical navigation, image processing is an integral component.</p><p>During its performance tests, photographs were taken of the dark side of the Moon and the Earth.</p><p>But because of rights restrictions, the pictures used in this manga are different from the pictures that Hayabusa-san took. </p><p><tt>(Here, stock photos were used)</tt>
* The exterior<p>It seems that Sagami-san was worried that the lack of sleep could have been causing dry skin...</p><p>In reality necessary operations generally had been completed by the day before the gravity assist. The main goal of the day of the maneuver had become to watch and ensure things went smoothly.</p>
* Lipovitan<p>(Libogen) "A special drink that helps one overcome difficulties"</p><p>This energy drink is made by Taisho Pharmaceutical Company, which has an Eagle trademark.</p>
Lipovitan is often associated with JAXA and ISAS.
On the occasion of the second touch-down on Itokawa in November 2005, the situation at ground control was blogged in real time. On that blog, the empty bottles of Lipovitan were piling up on blog manager's desk with time. It becoming a topic of conversation.
* Began her trip <p>As of now, Hayabusa has achieved 150 points from a results-based 100-point scale.</p><p>This value is neither a joke nor an exaggeration.</p><p>Whatever level the Hayabusa mission achieves, each step is the same as concluding one whole project (worth 100 points); this was a very ambitious compound challenge.</p>
* Grading Chart<p>* 50 points: Begin operation of ion engines (using all three at once)</p><p>*100 points: Operation of ion engines for more than 1000 hours </p><p>*150 points: Success using an Earth gravity assist (this was the world's first gravity assist using ion engines)</p><p>*200 points: Successfully completing a rendezvous with Itokawa with autonomous navigation</p><p>*250 points: Successful scientific observation of asteroid</p><p>*300 points: Touch-down and sample collection</p><p>*400 points: The capsule returns to Earth, enters the atmosphere and is collected</p><p>*500 points: Acquisition of the sample</p>
Japan, the day side of the earth
The space probe passed out of sight from Japan
Closest approach to Earth
The space probe started to undergo "shade area"
The night side of the earth
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