Hayabusa2: This mission launched a Japanese asteroid-sampling spacecraft in December 2014. It successfully rendezvoused with asteroid Ryugu on June 27, 2018. For 18 months, the probe will poke, prod and impact the asteroid, deploying a small lander and three rovers. It will then blast an artificial crater to analyze material below the asteroid’s surface. After that, the probe will head back to Earth, arriving near the end of 2020 with samples in tow. On Sep. 20, 2018, the spacecraft dropped two tiny robots on the surface of the 3,000-foot-wide asteroid. Gravity on the surface of Ryugu is very weak, so a rover propelled by normal wheels or crawlers would float upwards as soon as it started to move. Therefore, the rovers will move autonomously by hopping on the surface. The rovers are expected to remain in the air for up to 15 minutes after a single hop before landing, and to move up to 15 m horizontally. The mission is a follow-up of Hayabusa, which returned samples of asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010 despite numerous technical difficulties.
Table of contents
1) Introduction
2) Japan Space Agency (JAXA)
3) Hayabusa2 Mission Overview
a. The goal of the Mission (relates to Hayabusa)
b. Comparison of the Orbits between Ryugu, Earth and other planets
c. Asteroid: 162173 Ryugu
d. Similarities/Differences of Mission Hayabusa and Hayabusa 2
4) Past/future timeline of the mission and current progress
A. The launch of the project/satellite
B. Trajectory
C. Progress and Achievements so far
5) Data and sample collection
A. Rovers
a. MINERVA II1.
b. Mascot
B. Subsurface and sample collection
a. Carry on impactor-SCI (creates a crater hole on surface)
6) Return to the earth
A. Recent capsule
B. Ion engines system
7.) Why is this mission important?
A. Comparison of materials collected to materials found on Earth
B. Did life on Earth first come from asteroids?
8.) Conclusion and Summary
9.) References
