MASCOT—The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout Onboard t

Authors: TraMi Ho Volodymyr Baturkin Christian Grimm Jan Thimo Grundmann Catherin Hobbie Eugen Ksenik Caroline Lange Kaname Sasaki Markus Schlotterer Maria Talapina Nawarat Termtanasombat Elisabet Wejmo Lars Witte Michael Wrasmann Guido Wübbels Johannes Rößler Christian Ziach Ross Findlay Jens Biele Christian Krause Stephan Ulamec Michael Lange Olaf Mierheim Roy Lichtenheldt Maximilian Maier Josef Reill HansJürgen Sedlmayr Pierre Bousquet Anthony Bellion Olivier Bompis Celine CenacMorthe Muriel Deleuze Stephane Fredon Eric Jurado Elisabet Canalias Ralf Jaumann JeanPierre Bibring Karl Heinz Glassmeier David Hercik Matthias Grott Luca Celotti Federico Cordero Jeffrey Hendrikse Tatsuaki Okada

Publish Date: 2016/04/26

Volume: 208, Issue: 1-4, Pages: 339-374

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Abstract

On December 3rd 2014 the Japanese Space Agency JAXA launched successfully the Hayabusa2 HY2 spacecraft to its journey to Near Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu Aboard this spacecraft is a compact landing package MASCOT Mobile Asteroid surface SCOuT which was developed by the German Aerospace Centre DLR in collaboration with the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales CNES Similar to the famous predecessor mission Hayabusa Hayabusa2 will also study an asteroid and return samples to Earth This time however the target is a Ctype asteroid which is considered to be more primitive than 25143 Itokawa and provide insight into an even earlier stage of our Solar SystemUpon arrival at asteroid Ryugu in 2018 MASCOT will be released from the HY2 spacecraft and gently descend by free fall from an altitude of about 100 m to the surface of the asteroid After a few bounces the lander will come to rest at the surface and perform its scientific investigations of the surface structure and mineralogical composition the thermal behaviour and the magnetic properties by operating its four scientific instruments Those include an IR imaging spectrometer MicrOmega IAS Paris a camera MASCAM DLR Berlin a radiometer MARA DLR Berlin and a magnetometer MASMAG TU BraunschweigIn order to allow optimized payload operations the thermal design of MASCOT is required to cope with the contrasting requirements of the 4year cruise in cold environment versus the hot conditions on the surface of the asteroid Operations up to 2 asteroid days ∼16 hours based on a primary battery are currently envisaged A mobility mechanism allows locomotion on the surface The mechanism is supported by an attitude and motion sensing system and an intelligent autonomy manager which is implemented in the onboard software that enables MASCOT to operate fully independently when ground intervention is not available

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