IF PRACTICE makes perfect, then the Japanese space probe Hayabusa may need a little extra. A test landing on the asteroid Itokawa failed on 4 November, and it is not clear when there will be another attempt – or whether it will be made at all.
Hayabusa was supposed to descend to the 600-metre-long asteroid to test its autonomous landing technologies in advance of two sample-collecting touchdowns later this month. It was also going to release a robot called Minerva to hop around the asteroid, snap images and measure the temperature.
But after Hayabusa began its descent, it had trouble identifying…
