Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-08-30
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in PASJ, 16 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables
Scientific paper
We analyzed photographic observations of the re-entry of the Hayabusa spacecraft and capsule over Southern Australia on June 13, 2010, 13:52 UT. Radiometric measurements of the brightness of the associated fireball were obtained as well. We derived the trajectories and velocities of the spacecraft, its four fragments and the capsule. The capsule trajectory was within a few hundred meters of the trajectory predicted by JAXA prior the re-entry. The spacecraft trajectory was about 1 km higher than the capsule trajectory. Two major fragments separated from the spacecraft at a height of about 62 km with mutual lateral velocity of 250 m/s. The maximum absolute magnitude of the fireball of -12.6 was reached at a height of 67 km. The dynamic pressures acting on the spacecraft at the fragmentation points were only 1 - 50 kPa. No spacecraft fragment was seen to survive below the height of 47 km. The integral luminous efficiency of the event was 1.3%. As expected, the capsule had a very low luminous efficiency and very low ablation coefficient. The ablation coefficients and masses of the major spacecraft fragments are discussed.
Abe Shinsuke
Bland Philip A.
Borovicka Jiri
Shrbený Lukáš
Spurny Pavel
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