The low descent observation operation (PPTD-TM1B) will be conducted between June 11 - 13. As we successfully dropped a target marker in area CO1 during the PPTD-TM1A operation that was performed between May 28 – 30, a target marker will not be dropped during PPTD-TM1B, but observations will be taken near the artificial crater.

Preparations for the descent began on June 11 and the descent will begin on June 12 at 11:40 JST (on-board time) with the spacecraft descending at a speed of 0.4m/s. The speed will be reduced to 0.1 m/s at 22:00 JST on the same day. The spacecraft will read an altitude of about 35m on June 13 at 10:34 JST and then begin to ascend from 10:57 JST. The schedule of the operation is shown in Figure 1. Please be aware that the actual operation time may differ as the times shown are the planned values.

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  Figure 1: Schematic of the PPTD-TM1B operation (credit: JAXA).
  Note: times listed may differ from the actual operation.

Figure 2 shows the operation sequence at low altitude.

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  Figure 2: Low altitude sequence for PPTD-TM1B (credit: JAXA).

Hayabusa2 Project
2019.06.12