Overview of Hayabusa2 Asteroid Proximity Operation Planning and Preliminary Results
Takanao Saiki, Yuto Takei, T. Takahashi, Shota Kikuchi, Hirotaka Sawada, Chikako Hirose, Fuyuto Terui, Naoko Ogawa, Yuya Mimasu, Go Ono, Kent Yoshikawa, Hiroshi Takeuchi, Atsushi Fujii, Tetsuya Masuda, Seiji Yasuda, Kota Matsushima, Makoto Yoshikawa, Satoru Nakazawa, Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 Project Team
Abstract
Hayabusa2 is a Japanese asteroid explorer launched by the H-IIA rocket on Dec. 3, 2014. After the long cruising with the ion engine system, the spacecraft approached its target body, Ryugu, using optical navigation. It arrived at Home Position (HP), 20 km above the sub-Earth point, on Jun. 27, 2018. The spacecraft is now on its way back to Earth. It will reach the Earth by the end of 2020. During the 1.5-year asteroid proximity phase, we performed many kinds of science observations using the remote sensing instruments. We performed several numbers of descent operations to deploy and lander/rovers, to collect the surface samples, and to create an artificial crater using a new small kinetic impactor. Detailed operation planning of the asteroid proximity phase started after the launch, and lots of training for the proximity phase were conducted from one year before the arrival. This paper summarizes the overview of the asteroid proximity operation plan of Hayabusa2 and its preliminary results.