An overview of JAXA's ground-observation activities for AYABUSA reentry

Abstract

On 2010 June 13, the HAYABUSA asteroid explorer returned to Earth and underwent a super-orbital atmospheric reentry. In order to recover the sample return capsule and to take ground-based measurements, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency organized a ground-observation team and performed optical tracking of the capsule, spectroscopy of the fireball, and measurements of infrasounds and shock waves generated by the fireball. In this article, an overview of the ground-based observation is presented, and an outline of the preliminary results derived from observations is reported. © 2011. Astronomical Society of Japan.