Y.M. COLUMN ARCHIVE
December 10, 2003
The letter to 270,000 people who sent their
messages on Mars Exploration Probe, "NOZOMI"
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I regret to report to you that "NOZOMI" that
has traveled in solar system interplanetary space with your
names onboard for a little over five years after departure
from earth in July of 1998 has come to give up its injection
into orbit around Mars by mission control's final decision,
at 8:30pm December 9, 2003 (Tue), after having confirmed non-recovery
from operational malfunction in spite of the hardest struggling
restoration operation by the mission team. Following its decision,
mission control center sent a command to change the probe's
trajectory from 8:45pm to 9:15pm of the day, in order to lower
the impact percentage of colliding with Mars. As a result,
"NOZOMI" will pass by 1,000km above Martian surface on December
14 and will escape from gravitational sphere of Mars on December
16 to continue on traveling along orbit around the sun with
your names onboard.
A number of invaluable experiences and achievements
we have obtained from "NOZOMI" as its first interplanetary
exploration probe of Japan, such as long distance telemetry,
control of trajectory, designing of probe and operational
technology, etc. were all totally applied to "HAYABUSA" launched
in May of this year, and will contribute a great deal to the
advancement of future solar system interplanetary exploration
program of Japan. Although science observation instruments
onboard have made some achievements in interplanetary space
as I occasionally reported on our homepage, they could not,
heartbreakingly, fulfill the original objectives.
Above all, I must most regrettably apologize
from the bottom of my heart for not having been able to send
your names to the final destination of Mars.
As I look back at the campaign movement of
"Send your names to Mars!" your messages with your names on
each postcard overwhelmingly moved and encouraged our staff
members of the institute and graduate students challenging
to solve the mysteries of solar system and whole universe,
as along they were engaged in incredible amount of works to
cut out each name out of 270,000 applications.
There was a lovely postcard scribbled by
then five-year old boy with the names of grandfather and grandchild,
"I want to be always with my grandpa" in a 2cm x 6cm square
space.
There was a heartrending postcard with warm
love of a mother who lost her baby, "This is a name of my
one-year old child who died last year. Please make him/her
a real star."
I, as an original proposer of this campaign,
ran my eyes through each one of the postcards. All those thankful
messages that reflected each sender's life style and life
itself so much encouraged the former institute staffs to advance
further with confidence in convincing themselves, "there are
numerous number of people with whom we can share the feelings
of space".
At the last spurt of repair operation of
"NOZOMI" from autumn through to December of this year, we
received many cheering e-mails and telephones, "Come on! Hold
on! NOZOMI". How encouraging those warm messages were to the
"NOZOMI" mission team trying hard to recover conversation
contact with "NOZOMI"!
Though the final objective was not achieved,
"NOZOMI" team still continues restoration efforts for a while.
Whatever outcome it may bring, the first Japanese interplanetary
exploration probe made with every possible effort will circle
around the sun with your names semi-permanently. In the last
place, we would like to extend our heartfelt thankfulness
as well as sincere apology to 270,000 people at this time,
wishing that "NOZOMI" would, from heaven above, watch and
protect our future life and give encouraging power to all
creatures on earth and to our beloved country. Ladies and
gentlemen, we would like to thank you very much once again
and expect the same favor of yours to be given to our future
activities as well.
Yours very truly,
Yasunori Matogawa
Director, Office of Public Outreach and
Space Education
(Former The Institute of Space and
Astronautical Science) ISAS/JAXA
