Hayabusa passed through the third aphelion of 1.63AU from Sun

Hayabusa asteroid explorer, under the ballistic flight in the spin attitude stabilization, passed through the third aphelion of 1.63AU from Sun on February 28, 2008.

During this time moment it had been saving electrical power consumption due to low luminosity on the solar arrays.

The Earth distance increases rapidly and will reach 2.5AU at the end of May.

Hayabusa will make a good turn around the fourth aphelion under the powered flight by the ion engine and will come back Earth in 2010.

Hayabusa Operation Team

March 6, 2008