TOKYO: A Japanese space probe on a mission to bring back the world's first rock samples from an ... Japanese mission to bring s

TOKYO: A Japanese space probe on a mission to bring back the world's first rock samples from an asteroid failed to touch down on Sunday on its target nearly 300 million km from earth.

But scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) were trying to pinpoint the location of the probe and considering a second attempt at landing.

The unmanned Hayabusa (Japanese for ''falcon,'' had been scheduled to touch down on the surface of the 548-metre-long 25143 Itokawa for just one second after a voyage of two and a half years.

'I don't think it landed,'' project leader Junichiro Kawaguchi told a news conference. Earlier in the day, the probe launched a landing target marker from a height of 40 metres, then descended to a position 17 metres from the asteroid, but apparently failed to complete its descent.

Hayabusa's self-navigating system was programmed to abort the descent in the event that any of a number of factors appeared to put the probe in danger.

Asteroids, unlike larger space bodies such as the moon, are believed to contain rocks that have remained largely unchanged since the early days of the solar system and can thus offer valuable information about its origins.

Failure would be an embarrassment for Japan's space industry, recently overshadowed by Asian rival China's success in carrying out manned space flights -- something Japan has never attempted.

Hayabusa has already sent back a series of detailed images of the asteroid, which Japanese media noted looked something like a potato. In the most recent photograph, taken on Sunday and published on JAXA's Web site, the probe's shadow can be made out on Itokawa's surface.

The 500-kg (1,100 lb) Hayabusa has also developed a problem with its positioning control system, and a solar flare damaged its wing-like solar panels.

The mission is scheduled to carry out two touchdowns on the asteroid before Hayabusa heads back to earth, where the sample is due to land in the Australian outback in June 2007, four years after the probe was launched.

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