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Guidance, navigation, and control of Hayabusa2 touchdown operations

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 February 2022

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Abstract

Hayabusa2 is a Japanese sample return mission from the asteroid Ryugu. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft was launched on 3 December 2014 and arrived at Ryugu on 27 June 2018. It stayed there until December 2019 for in situ observation and soil sample collection, and will return to the Earth in November or December 2020. During the stay, the spacecraft performed the first touchdown operation on 22 February 2019 and the second touchdown on 11 July 2019, which were both completed successfully. Because the surface of Ryugu is rough and covered with boulders, it was not easy to find target areas for touchdown. There were several technical challenges to overcome, including demanding guidance, navigation, and control accuracy, to realize the touchdown operation. In this paper, strategies and technical details of the guidance, navigation, and control systems are presented. The flight results prove that the performance of the systems was satisfactory and largely contributed to the success of the operation.

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Abbreviations

AOCS:

attitude and orbit control system

AOCP:

attitude and orbit control processor

ACFS:

attitude and orbit control flight software

ONC-E:

on-board navigation camera electronics

FLASH:

flash lamp

FOV:

field of view

GNC:

guidance, navigation, and control

GCP-NAV:

ground control point navigation

HP:

home position

IRU:

inertial reference unit

LIDAR:

light detection and ranging

LRF:

laser range finder

ONC:

optical navigation camera

PPTD:

pinpoint touchdown

RCS:

reaction control system

RW:

reaction wheel

SCI:

small carry-on impactor

STT:

star tracker

TM:

target marker

TMT:

target marker tracking

DBT:

differential bright object tracking

NBT:

normal bright object tracking

TD:

touchdown

PPTD:

pinpoint touchdown

6DOF:

six degree of freedom

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kanagawa, 252-5210, Japan

    Fuyuto Terui, Naoko Ogawa, Go Ono, Takanao Saiki & Yuichi Tsuda

  2. 3rd Space Technology Department, Space System Division, NEC Corporation, Tokyo, 183-8501, Japan

    Seiji Yasuda, Tetsuya Masuda & Kota Matsushima

Authors
  1. Fuyuto Terui
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  2. Naoko Ogawa
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  3. Go Ono
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  4. Seiji Yasuda
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  5. Tetsuya Masuda
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  6. Kota Matsushima
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  7. Takanao Saiki
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  8. Yuichi Tsuda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fuyuto Terui.

Additional information

Fuyuto Terui received his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Osaka Prefecture in 1989. He has been a staff member of the Space Technology Research Center of National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) of Japan since 1989. He was a visiting scholar at 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 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) since 2003 and is now a function manager of the “Hayabusa2” project as well as a representative of the attitude and orbit control system of “Hayabusa2” spacecraft. His main research field is robust control and image-based guidance, navigation, and control of spacecraft such as debris removal space robots and the asteroid exploration probe. E-mail: terui.fuyuto@jaxa.jp.

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 was a Research Fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Since 2008 she has been a research engineer at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA. Her current research interests include astrodynamics, mission design, robotics, spacecraft systems and operation. E-mail: ogawa.naoko@jaxa.jp.

Go Ono is a researcher at JAXA. He graduated with his master of engineering degree from the University of Bath in 2011 and 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. Email: ono.go@jaxa.jp.

Seiji Yasuda received his bachelor, master, and doctor degrees in science from Tsukuba University in 2004, 2006, and 2009, respectively. From 2009, he started working as an engineer in NEC Aerospace Systems, Ltd. and joined NEC Corporation in 2016. E-mail: yasuda_sj@nec.com.

Tetsuya Masuda received his bachelor and master degrees in engineering from Kyoto University in 2009 and 2011, respectively. From 2011, he started working as an engineer in space system development of NEC Corporation, and has been a Hayabusa2 system manager since 2018. E-mail: t-masuda2011@nec.com.

Kota Matsushima received his bachelor and master degrees in engineering from Hokkaido University in 2007 and 2009, respectively. From 2009, he started working as an engineer in space system development of NEC Corporation. E-mail: k_matsushima@nec.com.

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 is currently a project engineer. His research interests include astrodynamics, spacecraft system, and deep space exploration. E-mail: saiki.takanao@jaxa.jp.

Yuichi Tsuda received his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Tokyo in 2003 and joined JAXA in 2003 as a research associate. He was a visiting scholar at 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 at ISAS/JAXA and is also the project manager of the Hayabusa2, an asteroid sample-return mission. His research interests are astrodynamics, spacecraft system, and deep space exploration. E-mail: tsuda.yuichi@jaxa.jp.

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Terui, F., Ogawa, N., Ono, G. et al. Guidance, navigation, and control of Hayabusa2 touchdown operations. Astrodyn 4, 393–409 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-020-0086-5

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