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A total of 877 490 names were inscribed on a sheet of aluminium and wrapped inside the Hayabusa mission's first target marker � a device that will land on asteroid Itokawa's surface. Hundreds of the names are of National Space Centre visitors who signed up in 2002 to have their name sent to the asteroid.
Target markers are used so Hayabusa knows where to swoop down to collect samples. Hayabusa's altimeters will measure its height above the asteroid, while the target marker will guide the probe to the correct horizontal spot on the surface. It takes around 16 minutes for communications from Earth to travel to Hayabusa, so the target markers were designed to allow the manoeuvre to be carried out autonomously.
Hayabusa will 'swoop' down to gently touch Itokawa. It will then fire a pellet into the surface, and collect the ejected material. Two sample collection manoeuvres will be attempted, one on 19 November and the second on 25 November, before Hayabusa sets off on its return journey in December 2005. It is due to arrive back in June 2007, when the sample will parachute down to the Australian outback.
According to Donald Yeomans, senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the USA's project scientist for the mission, the sheet of names: "will sit on the surface of Itokawa for a billion years or so."
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) mission was originally called MUSES-C. It was renamed Hayabusa, the Japanese word for falcon, because of the swooping manoeuvre it will make to collect the samples. If successful, Hayabusa will be the first asteroid sample return mission.
More info: JAXA: Hayabusa;JPL
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