Goals: Japan built Hayabusa to test new technologies, including
an ion engine, and to collect the first samples from the surface
of an asteroid. It also carried a small 600 gram (1.3 pound)
mini-lander named MINERVA, which was designed to hop around the
asteroid's surface. Accomplishments: Hayabusa studied and
photographed Itokawa for more than two months. Both Hayabusa and
MINERVA experienced complications during landing attempts,
Hayabusa landed on the asteroid and sucked a small amount of
debris into a sample container. MINERVA probably drifted off
into space instead of landing. The Hayabusa sample capsule
returned to Earth and was recovered. Many of the tiny particles
recovered from the sample return capsule were identified as
pieces of what appears to be a very primitive asteroid. In
addition to returning the first samples from the surface of
asteroid, Hayabusa also is the first spacecraft to successfully
land and take off from the surface of an asteroid.