TopicsMINERVA-II2 (Rover2) separation operation

From September 28 - October 3, 2019, MINERVA-II2 (Rover2) (university consortium development) will be separated from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. The MINERVA-II2 (Rover2) Orbital Operation will then continue until October 8.

Figure 1 shows the overview of the operation. The descent begins at a slow speed on September 28. Rover2 is then separated at a high altitude (about 1km) towards the asteroid equator. The anticipated separation speed is between 13 cm/s to 17 cm/s. Hayabusa2 will follow the separated Rover2 as far as possible using optical observation, while climbing after separation to an altitude of 8 - 10km and proceeding to hover.

From this operation, the following results are expected:
* Science result: contribution to the high accuracy estimation of Ryugu’s gravitational field.
* Engineering result: Separation and landing of a small probe from high altitude, and flight trajectory analysis.


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    Fig 1: Overview of the MINERVA-II2 (Rover2) Separation Operation and Orbital Operation. on
    (Image credit: JAXA)

Hayabusa2 Project
2019.10.1