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The Japanese MUSES-C mission to Near Earth Asteroid 1998SF36 has taken one more step towards it's launch by completing its testing. The unmanned MUSES-C mission will be the first to return samples to the Earth from an asteroid. The samples will be collected using a unique method in which a small solid projectile will be fired into the surface of the asteroid. The dust particles ejected by the impact of the projectile will then be swept up by a funnel shaped collector on the spacecraft. The MUSES-C mission will provide important information on the nature of a known asteroid that may one day help scientists decide how best to deflect a hazardous NEO.
The explorer was dispatched from Sagamihara on 12 March and arrived safely at the launch site in Kagoshima on 15 March for final testing of the spacecraft. From the end of March to early April, 60kg of xenon gas fuel was successfully loaded into the spacecraft at Kagoshima. Since the new ion engine can be exposed to air, the filling operation was achieved very smoothly, say mission experts. The final preparation for the launcher system is planned from end April.
MUSES-C is set to be launched towards asteroid 1998SF36 by the Japanese M-V launch vehicle on 9 May 2003, it will arrive at the asteroid in the summer of 2005 and stay in close proximity to the asteroid for about five months. Then MUSES-C will will return to Earth in the summer of 2007.
More info: ISAS
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