Abstract
In late 2018, the asteroid Ryugu was in the Sun’s shadow during the superior solar conjunction phase. As the Sun-Earth-Ryugu angle decreased to below 3°, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft experienced 21 days of planned blackout in the Earth-probe communication link. This was the first time a spacecraft had experienced solar conjunction while hovering around a minor body. For the safety of the spacecraft, a low energy transfer trajectory named Ayu was designed in the Hill reference frame to increase its altitude from 20 to 110 km. The trajectory was planned with the newly developed optNEAR tool and validated with real time data. This article shows the results of the conjunction operation, from planning to flight data.
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11 February 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-022-0136-2
Abbreviations
- AIT:
-
asteroid image tracking
- AOCS:
-
attitude orbit control system
- AU:
-
astronomic unit
- COI:
-
conjunction orbit insertion
- FD:
-
flight dynamics
- FOV:
-
field of view
- GCP-NAV:
-
ground control point navigation
- goNEAR:
-
gravitational orbits near earth asteroid regions
- HGA:
-
high gain antenna
- HP:
-
home position (20 km from Ryugu)
- HPNAV:
-
home position NAVigation
- HRM:
-
home position recovery maneuver
- JATOPS:
-
JAXA approach trajectory optimizer with stochastic constraints
- OD:
-
orbit determination
- optNEAR:
-
optimum trajectory near Earth asteroid regions
- RCS:
-
reaction control system
- SEP:
-
Sun-Earth-probe
- SRP:
-
solar radiation pressure
- TCM:
-
trajectory control maneuver
- ToF:
-
time of flight
- UTC:
-
universal coordinated time
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Stefania Soldini received her Ph.D. degree in October 2016 from the University of Southampton, UK. She is an assistant professor in space engineering in the University of Liverpool, UK. Since 2020, she has been the PI of the “3D printed self-folding origami solar sail” project funded by the CEII/EPSRC Network+ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhFIxZxZI&t=6s) in collaboration with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Oxford Space Systems, UK. She is also a member of the Hayabusa2 Joint Science Team (HJST) as astrodynamics Co-I and member of the ESA’s HERA and NASA’s DART group. She was the PI of the “Hayabusa2” superior solar conjunction mission phase in late 2018. She worked at the JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) from 2016 to 2019, after completing one-year JSPS post-doc research fellowship at the same institute. Her research interests are astrodynamics, guidance, navigation & control (GNC) for asteroids proximity operations, ejecta particles dynamics, planetary defence, solar sail technology, additive manufacturing, and AI.
Hiroshi Takeuchi received his Ph.D. degree of science (physics and applied physics) from Waseda University in 2000. In 2006, he started working at ISAS/JAXA as a member of deep space orbit determination group. He was a visiting researcher of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2012–2013. He is currently an associate professor of ISAS/JAXA and is also the lead of the orbit determination of Hayabusa2. His current research interest is developing the deep space multi-objects orbit determination system.
Sho Taniguchi completed his master’s course in mechanical engineering at Ibaraki University in 1995. He joined Fujitsu in 1999, and engaged in tracking and tracking services at JAXA in 2005. In 2009, he was engaged in deep space orbit determination work at the Science System Solution Division of the TC Solution Business Unit, Fujitsu Limited. He is also a regular member of the Japanese Society of Astronautics.
Shota Kikuchi received his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Tokyo in 2018. From 2015 to 2017, he had served as a visiting scholar at Purdue University and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is currently a postdoctoral research associate at JAXA and is engaged in the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample-return mission as a system engineer. His primary research interests lie in the field of astrodynamics, particularly in dynamics around small bodies.
Yuto Takei received his Ph.D. degree in engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 2015. He is a researcher at the Research and Development Directorate and JAXA. He is involved in the Hayabusa2 project as a systems engineer. His research interests include astrodynamics, spacecraft system, space robotics, and deep space exploration.
Go Ono is a researcher at JAXA. He graduated with his master degree in engineering from the University of Bath in 2011 and with his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2014. He joined JAXA in 2015 and has been working on guidance, navigation, and control systems of JAXA’s deep space missions such as Hayabusa2 and MMX. His current research interests are astrodynamics and deep space exploration.
Takanao Saiki received his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2005. He is an assistant professor at ISAS, JAXA. He is now involved in the Hayabusa2 project. He was a chief developer of the impact system and he is currently a project engineer. His research interests include astrodynamics, spacecraft system, and deep space exploration. Email: saiki.takanao@jaxa.jp.
Yuichi Tsuda received his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from University of Tokyo in 2003 and joined JAXA in 2003 as a research associate. He had been a visiting scholar of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan and Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder in 2008–2009. He was a deputy lead of the IKAROS project, the world’s first interplanetary solar sail mission. He is currently a professor of ISAS/JAXA and is the project manager of Hayabusa2, an asteroid sample-return mission. His research interests are astrodynamics, spacecraft system, and deep space exploration.
Fuyuto Terui received his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from University of Osaka Prefecture in 1989. He has been a staff member of Space Technology Research Center of National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) of Japan since 1989. He had been a visiting scholar of the University of Cambridge, Engineering Department, Control Group between 1994 and 1995. After the reorganization of space agencies in Japan, he has been a staff member of JAXA since 2003 and is now a function manager of the Hayabusa2 project as well as a representative of attitude and orbit control system of Hayabusa2 spacecraft. His main research fields include robust control and image-based guidance, and navigation and control of a spacecraft such as debris removal space robot and the asteroid exploration probe.
Naoko Ogawa received her B.E., M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematical engineering and information physics in 2000, 2002 and 2005, respectively, from the University of Tokyo, Japan. From 2004 to 2008 she has been a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Since 2008, she has been a research engineer at ISAS and JAXA. Her current research interests include astrodynamics, mission design, robotics, spacecraft systems and operation.
Yuya Mimasu is a researcher at JAXA. He graduated with his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from Kyushu University. After graduation, he joined JAXA and has been working on the guidance, navigation, and control subsystem of Hayabusa2, which is JAXA’s asteroid sample-return mission. His research interests are astrodynamics and mission analysis around small bodies. Email: mimasu.yuya@jaxa.jp.
Atsushi Fujii is a researcher at Hayabusa2 Project Team, ISAS, JAXA. He received his bachelor of engineering from Saitama University, Japan. He involves in Hayabusa2 project as a ground system engineer.
Satoru Nakazawa received his Ph.D. degree in science from Nagoya University, Japan in 1999. He is an assistant professor at ISAS and JAXA. He is now involved in the Hayabusa2 project. He is the deputy manager of the project team. His research interests include planetary science, spacecraft system engineering, and deep space exploration. Email: nakazawa.satoru@jaxa.jp.
Kent Yoshikawa received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2013 and 2015, respectively. From 2015, he started working as an engineer in the Research and Development Directorate, JAXA. His current research interests include astrodynamics, GNC, planetary robotics, and planetary exploration. Email: yoshikawa.kento@jaxa.jp.
Yusuke Oki is a researcher at JAXA. He graduated with a master degree in astronautics from the University of Tokyo in 2016, and with a Ph.D. degree in astronautics from the University of Tokyo in 2019. He joined JAXA in 2019, and has been working on system design and orbit design of spacecrafts. His current research interests are astrodynamics, concurrent design, and deep space exploration.
Chikako Hirose has worked at JAXA since 2004. She is currently a senior engineer and has had involvement in over 20 missions in flight dynamics field. She joined the Hayabusa2 team since 2018 after she finished her research at NASA as a visiting researcher for one year. Prior to that, she demonstrated her leadership in Venus orbit insertion of the Japanese first planet orbiter, Akatsuki. She obtained her master degree in physics from Ochanomizu University in 2004.
Hirotaka Sawada received his B.E. and M.E. degrees from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 1998 and 2001, respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 2004. He is an associate senior engineer of JAXA. He is currently involved in the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) project. His specialized field of research includes space robotics, dynamics, and control of space systems.
Tomohiro Yamaguchi is a system engineer of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan in 2012. His career includes system design, mission analysis, and operations for interplanetary spacecrafts in both agencies and industry. His current research interests are system design and guidance, navigation and control for interplanetary spacecraft.
Makoto Yoshikawa is an associate professor in ISAS, JAXA. He is the mission manager of Hayabusa2 project. He got his Ph.D. degree in astronomy from the University of Tokyo in 1989. After working as a researcher of JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), he worked at former Communication Research Laboratory from 1991 as senior researcher. He joined ISAS as associate professor in 1998. His research field is celestial mechanics, and he was involved in many space missions such as GEOTAIL, HALCA, Nozomi, Hayabusa, Akatsuki, and IKAROS. He is now also working for planetary defense issues.
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Soldini, S., Takeuchi, H., Taniguchi, S. et al. Hayabusa2’s superior solar conjunction mission operations: planning and post-operation results. Astrodyn 4, 265–288 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-020-0076-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-020-0076-7