Abstract The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the asteroid sample return spacecraft “Hayabusa2” on December 3, 2014. Hayabusa2 will reach the C-type asteroid 1999 JU3 in 2018, and return back to the Earth in 2020. Sample collections from three sites, four surface rovers deployment and a 4MJ-class kinetic impact crater generation are planned in the 1.5 years of the asteroid-proximity operation. The mission objective of Hayabusa2 has three aspects, science, engineering and exploration, all of which would be expanded by the successful round-trip journey. This paper describes the outline of the Hayabusa2 mission and the current flight status after the seven month of the interplanetary cruise.
Flight status of robotic asteroid sample return mission Hayabusa2
Acta Astronautica ; 127 ; 702-709
2016-01-15
8 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Flight status of robotic asteroid sample return mission Hayabusa2
Online Contents | 2016
|Cruise status of Hayabusa2: Round trip mission to asteroid 162173 Ryugu
Elsevier | 2017
|