Jim Oberg advises:

1. Today's planned landing on the asteroid Itokawa has been cancelled
while Japanese engineers analyze unexpected signmals from the
'Hayabusa' space probe.

2. The process runs automated since it is so far from Earth
that round-trip radio signals aren't fast enough for 'remote control'.

3. This means that when something unusual is encountered, the
autopilot retreats into 'safe' mode and waits for further instructions.

4. Landing the small 'Minerva' sub-satellite on the surface may still
be attempted in coming days. The 'Hayabusa' mother ship is
hovering very close to the surface, as the asteroid rotates underneath
it. The gravity is so weak the probe just hangs in space.

5. Give them a few days to figure out what the signal meant and
reprogram the autopilot, and try again.

6. This is 'rocket science' and nobody has ever tried this before.

7. It's not clear if the Minerva deployment has been permanently
cancelled, but that would be a bad idea since it would be a
vital practice approach for the planned sample retrievals later
this month.

see
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20051104p2a00m0na018000c.html

Japan's space agency cancels practice of touch- go rendezvous to asteroid

picture: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18184