Down to Earth
Picture of the Day ( 6 )
Gathering around a life-sized scale model of the Hayabusa spacecraft, actor Ken Watanabe, front row second from left, poses with Hayabusa project team members during a press conference to promote his latest film “Hayabusa,” in Tokyo on Tuesday. Hayabusa’s capsule successfully returned to Earth last year with particles collected from an asteroid for the first time in history after a seven-year journey. The 12 million yen spacecraft model was made to be used in the film which is due to hit the big screen in February.
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1
TumbleDry
Harsh competition with "Watch Paint Dry 2". Good luck with your movie.
"The 12 million yen spacecraft model was made to be used in the film which is due to hit the big screen in February. "
12 million yen? Cardboard, salad bowl, survival blankets here and there, et voila!
1
Gurukun
The pic looks like a YMO Album cover.
0
paulinusa
What happened to the original Hayabusa?
-1
shinhiyata
This probe was a huge debacle with numerous failures throughout the entire 7 year mission. The costly MINERVA mini lander malfunctioned upon deployment and tumbled off into space. The Hayabusa craft itself was not designed as a lander and was only supposed to make momentary contact, however it impacted the asteroid twice and was on the surface for 30 minutes. The M5 launch rocket experienced multiple failures and the launch was postponed for 2 years resulting in 2 changes for the destination asteroid. The solar cells were unexpectedly damaged by a solar flare on route which decreased the ion engine efficiency so much the rendezvous was postponed for 4 months and the on site missions were shortened by 2 months. The 3 planned 'landings' had to be reduced to 1, and this did not go as planned either as noted above. The sampling canister did not function as designed and only 100 particles were retrieved from the ambient space around the asteroid and not directly from the surface - in my opinion, this constituted a mission grand objective failure. The return journey was so fraught with setbacks and emergencies that it was a miracle of luck that it didn't fall into the sun. The reentry didn't go as planned and the container capsule was heavily damaged upon impact. JAXA analysis of the retrieved samples states that 'most' of the particles retrieved were extraterrestrial in origin. Well, how did the contaminants get into the sample? The mission was so hampered by setbacks and timeline changes that the name of the probe, the destination asteroid, and JAXA itself all were changed during the mission. Not a stunning success, arguably not worth the cost, and certainly not worthy of a movie
-1
T_rexmaxytime
Hayabusa is just epic! Win
0
borscht
Given all that Shinhiyata has written, this movie is going to have Watanabe jumping from one disaster to the next in filmic rapid progression. Lots of computer face time. Lots of tense staring at big screens waiting for Hayabusa to react. And the chase to find the capsule after it finally crashes down on earth? Classic drama.
Apollo 11 was a disaster, too, but one heck of a movie. However, with human lives at stake. I wonder, will Watanabe cry at the end of the movie?
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