Original subtitles

The capsule Hayabusa has brought from the asteroid Itokawa...

...holds tiny particles of dust.

If they are from Itokawa...

...they will be the first brought from a celestial object...

...other than the Moon.

Examination of particles from Itokawa could offer information...

13 June 2010

Woomera, South Australia

...on the solar system at the time it first took form...

Does everyone know that our Earth is hurtling through space...

...at a simply incredible speed?

In fact, the Earth is moving around the Sun at a speed of...

...110,000 kilometers per hour.

Spring 2002

We are about to send a space probe...

...to an asteroid 300 million kilometers away...

...across the solar system.

How far is 300 million kilometers?

It's twice the distance from Earth to the Sun.

lf you shouted 'Hey!' at the speed of light...

...it would take over 30 minutes before you heard 'What?'

Now comes the important part.

Why are we going all the way to an asteroid?

That is because a sample from Asteroid 1998SF36...

...might bring us closer to an explanation of how...

...our solar system was born.

We will launch the probe...

...on a rocket.

This is 'MUSES-C', the probe.

It weighs just over 500 kilograms, less than a small car.

You might worry that's too small...

...but with anything heavier aboard...

...our rocket can't lift it to where it needs to go.

The Americans could just bang it up there...

...with a great big rocket.

For propulsion our probe will use electricity, an 'ion thruster'.

It is a very small, but very efficient engine...

...using xenon gas and solar power.

But it exerts less force...

...than a human breath.

It will only gain 4 meters per second in speed every day...

...but over thousands of hours that adds up to...

...quite a high speed.

The probe will also increase its speed...

...using the Earth's orbital energy in a 'swing-by' maneuver.

It will travel 2 billion kilometers on its outward voyage...

...touch briefly on the asteroid...

...gather surface dust and sand into the capsule it carries...

...and return to Earth.

We call it a 'probe', but it's really a robot.

There are many things...

...this one single mission seeks to accomplish.

If this were America, we could fire a lot of rockets...

...but our budget is limited.

So we have to pack all of them into one single shot.

But Japan is only able now to attempt such a difficult mission...

...because of one man, Hideo Itokawa.

He is known as the father of Japanese rocketry.

It is his dream and his passion...

...that have brought us this far.

I wish we'd gotten more people out.

Your talk was quite interesting.

Sorry.

That's all right. Goodbye.

Um...

...I was so moved!

Your talk was very, uh...

About the engine, and the breath...

Well, thank you.

The 'Nozomi' Mars orbiter...

Yes.

You bought that?

I made it.

You made it yourself?

You did a good job!

Even the deployable mast.

No, that's the thermal plasma analyzer.

Oh...

That's right.

I even registered for the 'Your Name to Mars' program.

You did, did you?

We had a very hard time...

...shrinking those 270,000 names onto 20 aluminum plates.

Could I ask you something?

Yes.

Our geomorphologic studies in space are all based on planets.

Since 1998SF36 has hardly any gravity, I suspect it will be something...

...we've never seen before. What do you think?

I'm writing about this.

About the aggregation of particles into a rubble pile.

May I ask what exactly you do? Are you a student?

No.

I did grad work in crater morphology at Hokkaido.

And asteroid geomorphology.

Now I work part-time in a used-book store.

Jupiter Books, in Kanda.

Books on astronomy.

I have to catch a bus.

Wait...

Here, take this.

You can have it. It's something to read.

MUSES-C Project Outline

OK?

Careful!

'Brain Bread'

17th-year Memorial Service

Mom?

I can't make it back for the service. I've got work, and my thesis.

I want to defend it this year.

Yeah, I haven't been to the grave for a while.

No, I can't. I've just started a new part-time job.

No, I'm fine.

You take care of yourself.

OK, bye.

Summer 2002

Jupiter Books...

My name is Matoba. Could I speak to Ms Megumi Mizusawa?

Speaking...

Dr Matoba?!

You remember me?

Welcome!

Thank you for talking to me the other day.

Not at all. Do you have a minute?

Hello?

Yes?

You studied crater morphology and asteroid geomorphology...

Yes.

Would you be interested in coming over here?

Sorry?

To the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science.

This is Megumi Mizusawa...

...a research student who'll be joining Dr Hagiwara's lab.

I've talked to Dr Hagiwara...

...and she'll be part of your MUSES-C camera team...

...and doing publicity work for me.

'Mizusawa'. How do you do.

Ah, Sakagami...

Dr Hagiwara!

You turned down my travel request!

Indonesia we can handle, but not Chile.

We can't calibrate the cameras with one fix on the guide stars!

We're going over budget as it is.

We could do it from a lower latitude.

Hawaii, then. We'll have to adjust for the atmosphere.

Our pictures need scientific value!

You're head of the Science Team. Decide on our priorities!

I've got work.

Sakagami...

...this is Megumi Mizusawa.

We're hoping she can help out with your team.

Camera team! We've got multiband imaging to do.

We'll be working you hard. I hope you're ready.

Move it.

Which way?

Uh, right.

Sorry, no...

It's just a test lunar analysis! How long are you going to take?!

There's clouds in the way! Do we analyze them?

Make it happen!

Raise the brightness!

You've got to really know your camera...

...to get good data.

They've announced December as our launch window.

It's now or never!

Hey, there's the Moon.

You made that happen?

Ms Mizusawa, could you please...

...summarize these papers on debris?

And you can do camera-smear correction, right?

More or less. How long do I have?

Just two days.

Thanks.

Excuse me.

Center it.

Watch your fingers.

Ready.

Fire.

3, 2, 1, 0.

Replay it.

Speed?

5.4.

5.4?

Mizusawa, that way.

Wait...

It folds into the Minus Z-Panel.

400mm long?

It's supposed to extend to 1000 at T plus 20 minutes.

We found a more efficient textile for the horn.

Yes, they use it in bullet-proofing. It should work.

It should?

Let's get started testing some, then.

The sampler horn.

You're the new girl in Dr Hagiwara's lab?

I'm sorry. My name's Mizusawa.

Tajima, Sampler Development Team.

This tube...

...retracts when the probe touches.

A pellet will be fired down it into the asteroid's surface.

The fragments that fly up will be brought back.

Yes, of course! Without gravity, things fly up.

Sometimes the simplest idea works.

You don't need any special equipment.

You just wait and gather it in.

Mizusawa...

Ion current?

Check.

Now I'll show you something interesting.

This is a vital part of the history of Japanese rocketry.

This is the first real rocket...

...made in Japan by Dr Itokawa and his team.

And why did it end up the size of a pencil?

Gunpowder in postwar Japan only came in capsules like this.

As far as launching it...

...they didn't have tracking radar.

So without that how could they observe it...

...after they'd launched it?

So everyone talked about it...

...and said, 'If it can't go up, why not sideways?'

And so they fired them horizontally.

They launched more than 30 a month, which is an amazing number.

Then with what they learned, they started pointing them up.

And this is some very important footage.

Failure is the key to progress in space research.

But 'failure' is a word Dr Itokawa would not use.

He talked only about 'results'.

As long you have these results, you're making progress.

Lights, please.

Dr Itokawa was a very interesting man.

He played the cello...

...but it was awkward to carry, so he made one that folded up.

When he was 63, he took up ballet dancing.

You're at the space lab, right?

Why do you work part-time here?

Part-time there pays almost nothing. I have to work here to get by.

No one wants to pay for something they don't see a use for.

But isn't Hokkaido University one of the best schools in Japan?

So what?

Um...

Yes? What is it?

How does a rocket fly on electricity?

You mean 'space probes', not rockets.

And strictly speaking, it's not only electricity they fly on.

Xenon gas, or 'Xe', is microwaved to create plasma...

...which emits high-energy ions.

These have a positive charge.

As these are emitted the craft takes on a negative charge.

Because the ions then backflow...

...we counter this with an external neutralizer...

...to neutralize the beam.

This uses microwaves, too...

You see? If you study hard...

...some day you'll be as smart as her!

Thanks.

We need to know more about the results of our final tests.

We're waiting for Mr Sakagami.

I'll go ask him.

We're getting nowhere with the flat-field correction.

Rocks or craters, what comes first?

Asteroid shape comes first!

Come on, will you!

First we have to deliver a camera that works!

The Americans...

...would have different cameras for navigation and for observation.

We're trying to do it with one.

We have to make sure it does those things right.

That's the very basic part. Get that done, please.

Can't you at least decide on observation priorities?

How long will morphology take?

We need to balance tasks!

I need guide-star imaging parameters.

1. Smear correction. 2. Summary.

3. Useful references

Here.

Well done.

Is Sakagami working you hard?

It's very hard to explain things, isn't it.

You mean the front desk?

Kids ask really basic questions.

'Why is space black when the sky's blue?'

You say 'wavelengths' or 'particles', but they don't understand that.

You realize you're mainly talking to make sure you understand it.

That still happens to me.

Even now?

Dr Matoba!

Shigeo Nagashima added his name?

Perfect timing!

This is Kita. He's in charge of the ion-drive engine.

Hello.

How do you do.

It's not just baseball players.

Steven Spielberg and Paul Newman sent theirs in, too.

Right?

We're putting 880,000 names on it.

Even Nozomi only had 270,000.

I'd like to go deeper into all this.

Could I read what we've got?

Let me introduce you.

This is Ms Mizusawa. She's working with Dr Hagiwara.

Dr Kawabuchi is the MUSES-C Project Manager.

An expert in orbit design.

How do you do.

Hello.

Do you have a minute?

I'll come to the conference room.

This way...

This is our reference archive.

We keep everything related to our missions here.

We're tax funded, so we have to.

Take anything you want.

Sorry.

About Nozomi...

The press says it might crash on Mars.

Can you cool them down?

Harada's team is fixing the electrical system...

We're almost over 99 percent sure it'll stay in orbit.

Once we've cleared that legal hurdle, we'll fix the other things.

All right.

In asteroid exploration, this method will bring more substantial results.

1985.

'Sample return' will make plain the effects...

...of space weathering, solar wind, and micrometeorites on asteroid surfaces.

It is a very advanced and important method.

What are your candidate asteroids?

Going from meteors we've observed...

...near-Earth asteroids such as 1982 BD are our best candidates.

It's a crazy idea.

We can't keep tagging along with the Americans!

We need our own ideas!

We can't do all that!

Wait!

Even if we get a sample, how do we get it back?

We can't protect it like a space shuttle.

It'll just burn up.

Listen!

Can we think about how we do it, not why we can't?

The shuttle uses ceramic shielding.

Why don't we use carbon?

That'll stand higher temperatures.

Yeah!

And we don't operate the probe from Earth.

We make it operate itself.

And not chemical propulsion.

It won't carry enough.

We'll use electricity.

Japan will attempt sample return...

1993

...using ion-drive propulsion.

'In 1995, ten years after its inception...

'...the Space Activities Commission formally approved...

'...the ''Step into the Unknown'' program.'

'Step into the Unknown'?

Hi.

Was the work OK?

Very good. Two typos, but otherwise no problem.

Sorry.

What's that?

Something to help explain MUSES-C...

'Muses-C's Diary'... like Thomas the Tank Engine?

No.

We have no budget, so I want to try things.

No one has any budget. We're a low-cost mission.

When I tried to get money to go abroad from Dr Hagiwara...

...he called it robbery.

He approved it in the end, though.

I sympathize with him.

You've been with the project all along, right?

All along?

It said you were part of the 1985 research group.

You've done your homework. I was a student.

Yeah...

Ten years in conception, seven in development.

A long road, with a lot of ups and downs.

17 years...

Our first probe was too heavy, so the launch was postponed.

Another rocket failed to launch, and we were postponed again.

Our target's changed three times.

We only settled on SF36 a little while ago.

So now it's do or die...

You know what the three most important things are?

High-efficiency, low cost...

Lightness, and low energy-consumption.

With these figures, the probe won't fly.

It has to be 10 percent lighter.

It's a battle of low cost against low weight and low energy.

We can't make it any lighter!

We went through a lot of grief trying to accomplish that.

Just this one diode!

With that...

...there's a chance we can save it if anything goes wrong.

I understand that, Professor.

But the weight goes up, and we've finished the trials!

We can't rate it now. There's no money!

We don't have enough back-up!

With this we will!

We went to the same school!

Yeah, but...

Do something! Please!

Excuse us...

We want to make something like this.

We can do this.

It'll be heavy.

There's a 'target marker'.

To mark where the probe will come down.

It'll have 880,000 names on it, right?

Making that was hard.

There's no gravity, so as soon as it touched...

...it'd just bounce back up.

We have to find a way that it doesn't bounce.

The space lab guys!

Hello.

I know something that won't bounce.

Watch this.

The man owned a machine shop...

...and one of his people had the idea to use bean-bags.

They disperse the energy!

The beads rub together and absorb the energy that makes it bounce.

That's right.

Then Mr Kita found out it would cost a million yen to rent a machine...

...to pump the xenon.

'I'll make one,' he said.

And he really did!

He loves that stuff.

See you.

Goodbye.

Ministry of Education & Science

Mr Yabuki...

...this time we're fine.

We will launch this December.

You're sure of that?

I'm hard-pressed to convince the Minister.

As I'm sure you're aware, we are under budget constraints.

Count on it.

And you'll be at Uchinoura for the launch?

External Relations...

What?!

The reaction control O-rings are late?

And?

Postponed?

Oh, all right.

We've got trouble.

We're postponed. Till May!

Fish?

The Fishing Cooperatives won't budge.

It's their peak season. It means billions of yen.

What's the matter?

They can't fish in the restricted zone when we launch.

It involves cooperatives in five prefectures.

This is trouble!

Fishing is important, but so's our launch!

Why not just wait till summer...

Kochi

...when the fish aren't here?

Well, you see...

Uh...

This is the Sun, right?

If we launch at this time, our probe...

...goes 'zoom!' around the Earth...

...and then the probe can make it to its target.

Back!

If the timing's wrong...

...and it goes up and we still use the Earth's power...

...we can't catch up with the asteroid...

...our target.

We can't.

We don't catch up with it. See what I mean?

Which means...

...please!

Miyazaki

The University of Tokyo Professor has to sing!

'Todai' is my school, and 'Kyodai Bune' is about fishing...

No! Not that song!

The Cooperative Director sings that!

Oh.

We have fine sake in Kagoshima!

Kagoshima

Yes, that's true.

But back to the solar system...

I understand that, but then we can't fish.

But technology is the future!

Fine!

You go into space, and we go to sea.

We both care just as much.

Since we see eye to eye, one more drink!

Let's go!

I've had enough!

Yes! Let's go!

I'm done!

May, 2003

Uchinoura Space Center

The launch rehearsal's complete?

How's our time?

Operation check complete.

We're into countdown.

Commencing ion engine control check.

2, 1, 0...

Power supply confirmed.

Accumulator pressure?

Normal. 0.19 megapascals.

A toast from the town of Uchinoura for the launch of MUSES-C.

Good luck!

'''Come home!

'''Be sure you do...''

'Said at Mt Oiwake...

'...with a wave of the hand.'

My pee coefficient always goes up before a launch.

So...

...want to bet whether it comes back?

Which side are you taking?

Gentlemen!

Time to cast off!

There's rough seas ahead!

9 May 2003

They've settled on your name.

'Falcon'.

We're counting on you, 'Hayabusa'.

Ready for launch sequence.

Initiate.

We will now commence opening the service tower doors.

Opening service tower doors.

The Uchinoura Space Center reports...

...that it will proceed...

...with its planned launch of an M-5 rocket at 13:30 hours today.

Launch sequence began at 01:30 hours and is continuing normally.

All right?

This is Mr Yabuki, from the Ministry.

I'm Kawabuchi.

Hello.

It has been very hard...

...to keep funding a project like this whose results few will understand.

Please make this work!

Controller, could we have the final go/no go?

We are 'go'.

Activating all systems.

36, 35, 34...

...33, 32, 31, 30...

10, 9, 8, 7...

...6, 5, 4...

...3, 2, 1...

Look at it go!

'Come home!'

Do we have separation?

Thank you.

MUSES-C has achieved transfer orbit.

We made it! Transfer orbit!

Now it starts!

So it's really gone...

I hope we didn't forget anything.

Bite your tongue!

We did the capsule.

Get it back to Earth, so we can do our job.

Great!

One month later

My name's 'Hayabusa '.

On May 9th, 2003...

...I left the Uchinoura Space Center on an M-Vrocket.

I've passed all my in-flight tests...

...and today my ion engine will start up at last.

Do you see that?

Everyone has great hopes for me.

Be patient.

I promise I'll deliver all your 880,000 names.

Summer 2003

Calling Usuda Center.

This is Usuda.

Commencing Hayabusa operation from Sagamihara.

Operators today are Hirayama and Mizusawa.

Roger. Standing by.

Signal acquisition. Remote?

OK.

Satellite control?

QL data?

Ion engines?

Calling Usuda.

This is Usuda.

Weather conditions, please.

The weather is clear...

...wind speed 2 meters per second, temperature 19 degrees C.

Thank you.

Well?

No problems.

Everybody...

...the target asteroid's been named.

Asteroid 1998SF36 is now officially 'Itokawa'.

So they gave it Dr Itokawa's name...

Yes, the IAU agreed.

9 December 2003

Six months after Hayabusa's launch...

...the Nozomi team, still unable to reduce the likelihood of a crash...

...sent its final command.

We will now alter Nozomi's orbit.

Initiate Mars evasion maneuver.

Roger.

Initiating.

2, 1, 0.

Now they've sent the command...

...Nozomi will just follow Mars around the Sun.

Kawabuchi tried and tried, but he couldn't get below...

...that 1 percent crash possibility.

In the five years since it launched...

...it's been one problem after another.

Kawabuchi and the rest did all they could to save it, but...

To all who submitted names for the 'Nozomi'project.

Nozomi cannot be inserted...

...into orbit around Mars.

Doctor...

Oh, right!

You submitted a name, too.

My baby girl died last year. Please send her name to the stars.

Alone all my life, I wish to join you all in space.

It was my brother's name.

Mars is so beautiful!

I sketched it.

The marks on it are different.

Because it's spinning.

You watch, Megumi. When I'm an astronomer...

...I'll give you a present.

What?

I'll discover a new star, and name it after you.

That'd be great!

This time we'd better not fail.

Right.

May 2004

Now it's time for my swing-by.

I've been gaining speed for a year...

...but now Earth's gravity will speed me up even more.

It's going to throw me, like a discus.

Help me out, OK?

Engaging accelerometers X, Y, Z, and S.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

Send attitude parameters.

Setting parameters.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

Roger.

Send attitude change.

Engaging attitude control.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

Attitude monitor and reaction control systems ready.

Set time line.

Roger.

Earth's gravity has sped me up to 34 kilometers a second!

Orbit values!

B plane, not even a kilometer off!

Good.

Three of our objectives met.

Just five more to go.

Oh, hello!

Good night!

That's hard work.

No.

Doctoral Thesis: Low-Velocity Particle Analysis

Thesis

12 September 2005

28 months after leaving Earth...

...I have arrived at Itokawa...

...my long-awaited goal.

I've stopped 20km away.

What's that?!

It's 540 meters long...

...floating there like a sea otter.

Right! Now I'll take a whole bunch of pictures.

That's one weird-looking asteroid.

It sure is.

And we're the first people who've ever seen it.

I'm going to cry!

Hey!

There's hardly any craters.

Avalanche-type boulder piles.

We've never seen anything like this before.

Could it be a number of rocks? A rubble pile?

Read this, Grandpa!

All right.

'Composite photographs of Itokawa taken by Hayabusa.'

Isn't that something!

Keep going!

That's Itokawa?

Isn't that great!

A peanut.

No, a sea otter.

'The word's first sample return'...

Yeah, only 30 years after Apollo!

'This would be the first sample taken from an object in orbit...

'...around the Sun.'

So we beat NASA to something?

Hurray!

Stop it!

Don't!

Keep it down!

Mizusawa! Why are you doing astronomy, anyway?

I've always liked looking at stars, so I wanted to be...

...a scientist.

Was that your own idea...

...or...

...was it your brother's?

Dr Matoba told me.

It's too bad his name didn't make it to Mars.

Sensei!

Watch it!

You guessed it was a rubble pile. Your instincts are good.

Get to work.

To be an academic, you need to finish a thesis.

Keep that in mind.

We're doing three cheers!

Where do we touch down?

Start touchdown rehearsal.

4 November 2005

Overwriting data recorder.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

Seen up close, Itokawa is all rocks!

We didn't expect this.

Touching down will take courage.

I wonder if they can set me down right...

Ready to enable LIDAR update.

Sending.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

Sending Delta-V uplink 0X-1800.

2, 1, 0.

Sending descent guide suspend signal.

2, 1, 0.

Trouble?

The attitude's unstable.

We're only getting numbers from the Z Reaction Wheel.

Something might be wrong.

Something is wrong.

I've got three flywheels to keep me level...

...but two of them have broken on the way here.

Ready retro-thrusters.

Right.

At this rate...

...it'll touch down about 5:30, so we've got till about 5 pm...

...to send a command.

'I want to go off alone...

'...and eat ramen.'

'We will be uploading news on Hayabusa as it happens.'

So they're the ones...

...trying to lead the world in interplanetary exploration technology.

The hovering engines cut at T minus 5.

Then it drops by itself.

By 40 meters up, switch from LIDAR to Laser Range Finder.

Cut attitude-control mode before 20 meters.

Keep the antenna pointed at Earth.

Right now I've got 12 little rockets controlling my speed and direction...

...but they're hard to control.

They take practice.

If we correct all the way to here, we just might be OK...

It'll be close.

20 November

Go Hayabusa!

This is it!

Altitude 500 meters.

Doctor?

Continue descent.

Sending descent command 0055.

Sending descent command.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

40 meters!

Marker separated.

Cut acceleration.

Reduce speed.

Confirming 07.

Wait for speed to drop.

Moving to Control 2.

What's that black stuff there?

Zoom in!

Hayabusa!

The marker!

We can see Hayabusa!

It's there!

Of course it is!

Doctor! The names made it!

Speed data?

Soon.

We're in final phase.

17 meters...

10 meters...

Seven...

Six...

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

Zero.

Minus-one.

It's continuing to descend.

Minus-two.

Why?

Is it sinking in soft terrain?

Then it wouldn't be sending any data.

Sliding sideways on the surface? Is that possible?

Tajima?

Let me think about it.

Press Room

We have to get it off the surface! It's too hot for it there.

It's still sending data.

Let's take a minute and think.

That data's 17 minutes old. We could lose the probe!

Tajima...

...fire the thrusters.

It's lifted off.

Put it in safe-hold mode.

They told me to leave ltokawa, so I did.

What happened?

I don't know.

'The asteroid's surface is too hot for the observation equipment.'

Good call!

We know we can land it, so there's no need to risk that again.

We could wreck it.

The engineering mission involves bringing it back, too.

Yes, but we went there to get a sample.

What happens to 20 years of everyone's work...

...if we come back without one?

A sample won't mean anything if it doesn't get back here.

So will they touch down again?

Doctor!

Going down again could be fatal!

Yes, he knows that.

It's the engineering part that's important.

They're concentrating too much on the science side.

Yes, Takaoka.

We do whatever Dr Kawabuchi decides.

Confirm orbit correction for second touchdown.

We're touching down again.

Hello.

I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting.

Today at 22:00 hours...

...we will commence descent procedures...

...from one kilometer above the surface...

...for a second touchdown.

Has the craft been damaged?

Are you changing the site?

One question at a time, please.

Is there damage?

None has been confirmed.

The craft is under our control.

And the site?

There is no change. We will try at the same site.

What corrections have you made?

Can you re-insert the target marker?

25 November 2005

21 :25 hours. Continuing descent.

Switching altimeter to Laser Range Finder.

22:00 hours. Holding at 17 meters altitude.

Switch attitude-control modes.

Done.

The finder's gone S2.

Here we go...

It's going down!

Look for the green WCT. It'll come on at touchdown.

It means our commands have reached the sampler and everything else.

There!

They did it!

Yes! WCT!

'Whole Image Center Tracking'!

JAXA finally gets one on NASA!

Wait! Let's confirm our status.

Thrusters?

It looks like we're leaking propellant.

Nagashima?

It won't stabilize.

Hirayama?

The temperature's dropping.

Voltage is falling as well.

We'll lose contact.

Once that happens, it's lost and we're finished.

Do everything you can to stop that leak.

What's the spin down to?

2.347 degrees per second.

The leak is slowing its spin rate.

We need thrusters to bring it up.

The probe's going to die out there.

Residents Committee

Turning to the matter of dog and cat noise and excrement...

Excuse me.

We need to turn on the ion drive. Get in here!

I'm sorry...

...but something's come up. You'll have to excuse me.

Mr Tanaka, could you take over?

Something in space?

Yes. I'm sorry.

The only data we're getting now is from the medium-gain antenna.

Our one remaining reaction wheel can't absorb the angular momentum.

Our only hope...

...is to control the attitude by ion jet.

Fire the ion jets?!

The main engines are the only way to stabilize.

But it's in take-off mode now. You could wreck them!

It'll take a lot of power to stabilize, and you'll burn up all the fuel!

There won't be enough to get back!

Right now it won't get back anyway.

First off, the ion engines...

...aren't placed to change attitude.

You know that!

If the main engines can't thrust, why not try from somewhere else?

Somewhere else?

The thrusters are dead!

What about the neutralizers?

That would give us some power and use less fuel.

Let's try that.

I'm regaining my balance by firing gas through my neutralizers.

That command surprised me. It's hard work for tiny neutralizers.

But I'm turned the right way.

Now it's easier to communicate.

But...

We are unable to confirm...

...that we actually picked up any material from Itokawa.

While the command to fire the pellet was given...

...we believe there is an 80 percent chance...

...that the pellet was not fired.

What happened?

We have not established that.

I'm all battered and bruised.

But I'm trying to get back somehow.

I'm trying my best to live up to everybody's hopes...

I can't get the communications link back...

This isn't good!

Huh?

Huh?!

I'm spinning!

If I'm not facing the Sun, I can't recharge my batteries!

If it goes off, we lose contact.

The craft will be...

...lost!

Lost?!

Here I am.

I'm here...

...control has been lost...

They're having problems, aren't they.

I guess that's it, huh?

It'll be fine!

'Hey, are you lost?'

Where are you, anyway?

Excuse me...

Help yourselves.

Return to Earth...

...by the planned date of 2007 is no longer possible.

We are now aiming for three years later, in June 2010.

This is our third week of no contact.

I want you all to think about our best course of action.

Find something we could still try.

Information

Ask me anything

Did you find Hayabusa?

No?

Can't you signal him?

Good question!

A signal goes like waves when the water is disturbed.

There are different kinds of waves, some long and slow...

...and some small and short.

That's called their 'frequency'.

But Hayabusa got broken...

...so we don't know what frequency...

...our waves will reach him on.

And even if he answers us, we don't know...

...the frequency he'll use.

It's like tuning a radio. We have to try different frequencies.

No?

It's really hard. It's like looking for...

...one single grain of sand in your whole school playground.

I understand.

I hope you find him soon.

Thank you.

Bye.

So we can drop Hayabusa from the budget next year?

We are still continuing with the search.

They've never found a probe that's been lost this long, though.

I have to hand it to you, Mr Yabuki. You've done your research.

But Hayabusa...

...is a little different from conventional space probes.

Hayabusa is tumbling like this...

...in a tailspin...

...but its rotational inertia is calculated in such a way...

...that it stays stable on its axis.

If we can stabilize the angle so the Sun shines on its panels...

...eventually we can re-establish communication.

And when is 'eventually'?

Oh...

...a year or so?

Yes?

It's Mizusawa.

Come in.

I saw your light on.

Could you verify that this data fits the formulas...

...and make me ten copies?

Sorry?

It's estimates of our chances.

Doctor!

Doctor...

...do you ever think that calculations without firm data...

...are a waste of time?

It hurt when I couldn't get below a 1 percent chance Nozomi would crash.

No matter how I juggled the orbit, I was always just a bit over.

We had to use the thrusters. We were flying blind.

There was no time to worry that nothing was firm.

We just kept trying.

Thank you.

You're a great help.

You work hard.

By the way, how's your thesis coming?

Excuse me.

Oh no!

We'll rewrite the control software so we can send it in small bits.

Then even as Hayabusa spins, it can pick up one command.

Keep changing frequencies, and do wide sweeps.

Doing that for a year...

...gives us a 60 percent chance of re-establishing contact.

Thank you.

That went well.

I'm most afraid they'll defund us at year-end.

Then it's all over.

Showing people figures is good for morale.

What do you really think?

Figures depend on how you calculate them.

1 January 2006

The year ended with us still out of touch with Hayabusa.

From Sagamihara we sent it more than 15,000 commands...

...over six weeks.

23 January

Another day with no response. How long do we keep trying?

Hey, wait a minute...

That's Hayabusa. I'm sure of it.

Just as the solar panels faced the Sun and the antennas pointed to Earth!

Calling Usuda...

Usuda here.

Thank you. It's confirmed as Hayabusa.

Continue tracking.

Way to go Hayabusa!

I'll bet that gave you a scare.

But it's not over till it's over, Hayabusa!

Your job is to get home!

It's receiving signals!

How much is it receiving now?

I can't say...

...but enough to maintain temperature.

We can examine the probe with one-bit transmission.

How's the ion engine fuel supply?

There's 42 kilograms of xenon left.

It should use 9 kilos a month.

We can point its axis toward Earth with the gas jets.

How's telemetry reception?

It's low, but we can manage.

I'm fine, everyone. And I'm facing the Sun at last.

'I've got...

'...bruises all over but that won't stop me.'

It's time to move the sample container into its capsule.

They'll have to charge me carefully since four of my batteries don't work.

Charging complete.

The sample container's in the capsule.

It's time to turn on an ion engine again.

What?! What are you talking about?

A contract is a contract. I'm the one who signed it.

That's crazy!

'Your contract's over so don't come in any more'?

You can't see it through to the end. That's horrible!

Especially when we can't even see the end.

Why am I doing this?

If not seeing the end bothers you, don't become a scientist.

The fact is that most scientists don't see it through to the end.

Mizusawa! Why are you doing astronomy, anyway?

We're all temporary staff.

But that's a kind of profession, too.

Like a carpenter.

You finish up at one site and move on to the next.

We're shifuku.

'Blessed'?

Time to go.

'Shifuku': one who toils in obscurity

A few days later, Mr Sakagami left.

Then so did Dr Hagiwara.

To all of you, for all you've done.

Mizusawa...

...I want you to stay and see Hayabusa come home.

I leave Hayabusa to you all.

And Ms Mizusawa, too.

Look!

Science magazine...

Finally!

With a letter...

...saying the articles were wonderful.

From the Editor!

Mr Sakagami and Dr Hagiwara wrote things, too.

Next is your turn.

Is that Science?

18 October 2007

I've had lots of trouble, but I might just make it back.

Just one last push.

I'm turning off my ion engine to rest a bit.

I have to preserve my strength.

Spring 2008

I was always after Isomura...

...telling him he should get married.

But he never would.

Then he finally did, and they had a child...

On any project there are people who won't be there...

...at the end.

Even Dr Kawabuchi...

...lost his father last year.

His father was the person Kawabuchi most wanted to tell...

...when Hayabusa came back.

A Blessing from the Shrine...

...of the God of Flight

Ms Megumi Mizusawa

...your thesis...

...does not meet...

...our standards.

After 16 months, we will restart the engines.

4 February 2009

Yes! Ignition!

Second-leg orbit change. Engage ion engine D.

Starting ion thruster D.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

4 November

It's stopped!

What's wrong?!

The voltage went up, and D engine shut down.

And only seven months to go!

Hello?

Why so glum?

Why wouldn't I be?

You don't have time for that.

Aw, shuddup.

Look behind you.

Why?

Just do it.

The Recovery Team's waiting with its baseball gloves on.

Hit it to us.

It's easy for you to talk!

We're turning on the beacon.

Point the antennas.

OK, let's do what we talked about.

Mizusawa Family Tomb

Well, Mom...

...I'm close to getting what Kazuyuki wanted...

...but I'm just spinning my wheels.

Hayabusa can't get back.

Megumi!

When are you going to grow up?

Why are you studying astronomy?

Are you trying to make Kazuyuki's dreams come true for him?

Because you won't.

If you're going to stick with something...

...it's got to be because you really love it yourself.

Mom!

When you were small and Kazuyuki saw...

...how you loved looking into his telescope...

...he said that you'd go further than him.

Your dad smiled when he heard that.

Are you trying to become a scientist...

...for Kazuyuki?

Or is it something you want for yourself?

Since D engine stopped five days ago we have been trying to restart it...

...but have not succeeded.

Thus it will be difficult to meet our planned arrival date of June 2010.

So in the end it fails...

There's only one way I can think of.

If we could link B engine, whose neutralizer is dead...

...to A engine, whose ion source is dead...

...we could have a single engine.

In theory.

In theory?

The circuits have to be linked.

A bypass circuit?

Yes.

We have to link them?

No.

They're already linked.

I thought this might happen...

...so without telling anyone I got the maker to link them...

...with a diode.

Sorry.

But if we do that...

...won't the neutralizer heat up and burn?

It'll be touch and go.

Sending command file.

Sending cross-operation sequence, starting with line 8055.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

The engine's on!

It worked!

Go neutralizer!

Forcing the engines this way might just burn them up...

...and with two engines, I'm short of power.

If the breaker flips, my computer will go down.

I've got to hang tough.

Chuwa Shrine Okayama Prefecture

Hello.

I'm sorry I'm late!

This is a long way into the countryside to come.

I'm imposing on you.

But it has to be here.

Take this.

'New Trawl'Shrine

Next is your turn.

...for yourself?

I've got to do something!

Wow!

Stars are being born!

And now stars are dying!

What's that?

Dr Kawabuchi went to a shrine whose name sounds like 'neutralizer'.

Dr Kawabuchi? To a shrine?

Mr Fukumoto!

You need optical tracking for recovery, right?

Then take me.

To Australia?

I worked on Dr Sakagami's team.

Even if a scorpion bites me, I swear I will...

...find that capsule!

They don't bite.

May 2010

Once it hits the atmosphere...

How long was it?

Three minutes.

I hope that beacon deploys.

We won't find the capsule without it.

Don't worry.

We've done all those simulations!

We've got our recovery plan, but it's only flying on one engine.

Will it even get here?

Here we are!

What's that?

What's going on?

Today is Hayabusa's seventh birthday.

Right!

It's May 9th, isn't it.

How time flies.

Has it been seven years since we launched?

It's going to be its last birthday, too.

Whether we get the capsule or not, Hayabusa burns up.

Ms Mizusawa...

...bring the capsule back, OK?

Right!

Hey!

I'm making my last orbit adjustments to bring me back to Earth.

I'll be shifting trajectory so I drop the capsule...

...where I'm supposed to.

There'll be trouble if I drop it in the wrong place.

There!

There it is!

It's gone!

What?!

Hey, wait a minute!

Wait!

Yes?

Mr. Fukumoto! The Optics team is heading out.

It's time for you, too.

I'll be right there.

The capsule, 40 centimeters across, will soon be back on Earth.

On radar all over the world...

...Hayabusa is now in re-entry mode.

Sending separation command.

Cutting restraining wire.

2, 1, 0.

Signal sent.

Capsule separation confirmed!

Three hours to re-entry.

Shall we show Hayabusa his home?

Dr Kawabuchi called Hayabusa a 'he'.

Yes.

Hello everyone.

Mr Yabuki.

Now you'll see the results few people will understand.

I ended up bringing my son with me.

Hi.

Is it true Hayabusa won't be coming back?

Home, after seven years away.

The Earth is really beautiful...

Releasing the capsule made me wobble a bit...

...but they straightened me out.

This is my last picture. I hope it comes out all right.

And now I'm coming back into Earth's sky.

23:21 local time (22:51 Japan time)

Hi, folks.

I'm back.

He's back!

He's back!

Welcome home!

Did you make a wish?

Did you?

Michiru?

Hayabusa! You made it!

You did it!

Now it's my turn to get out of the house!

I'm going to go find a job!

There!

The capsule!

Mizusawa...

When everyone gave up on Nozomi...

...did you think we'd failed?

You saw that film footage of Dr Itokawa?

Yes!

'Results', right?

What are you going to do now?

Another probe!

Write your thesis first.

Good work!

70 knots, so that times 1 .8...

...means about 130 kph.

So about five more miles...

Hey! A kangaroo!

I hope it doesn't take the capsule.

There!

There it is!

John! There it is!

There!

Great!

A world first!

Analysis of particles in the capsule carried by Hayabusa...

...the asteroid exploration probe that returned to Earth in June...

...reveals that they formed about 6.3 million years after...

...our solar system, which is

4.568 billion years old.

They are thought to be minerals flung up after planetary collisions.

Some asked if perhaps the capsule simply contained dust from Earth...

...but close analysis has revealed it did indeed come from Itokawa.

The material carried in Hayabusa was the first ever brought...

...from an asteroid directly to Earth.

For me, the most important part of the Hayabusa experience...

...was that it made me realize my passion for outer space.

When I realized I was doing what I'd always wanted to do...

Dr Megumi Mizusawa

...I began to think I loved space from the bottom of my heart.

And...

...I began to think about life.

My life...

...is part of the life that has evolved since the universe began.

If we are all irreplaceable lives born into that evolution...

...questions of whose life has value and whose does not...

...do not occur.

We are all connected...

...as one element in this vast universe.

Thank you for listening.

This is a fictionalized version of the true Hayabusa story.

Dedicated to the men and women of the Hayabusa project.