Session
Session IV: The Past & Coming Years
Abstract
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA of Japan is operating the deep space explorer “Hayabusa” which made a rendezvous with the target asteroid “Itokawa” in September 2005. Hayabusa precisely observed the asteroid from the vicinity of the target and then landed on the surface in order to get some fragments from the asteroid, which will be brought back to the Earth in 2010. The authors have installed an experimental small rover named “MINERVA” into the explorer. It was supposed to make a world first surface exploration after having been deployed onto the surface from the mother spacecraft. MINERVA was deployed on 12 November 2005. Unfortunately it could not reach at the asteroid because the deployment was not done at the good timing. Thus it became a smallest artificial planet. It survived more than 18 hours after the deployment, all the while the obtained data were transmitted to the Earth via the mother spacecraft. This paper describes the operation and the obtained data of MINERVA.
Presentation Slides
MINERVA Rover which Became a Small Artificial Solar Satellite
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA of Japan is operating the deep space explorer “Hayabusa” which made a rendezvous with the target asteroid “Itokawa” in September 2005. Hayabusa precisely observed the asteroid from the vicinity of the target and then landed on the surface in order to get some fragments from the asteroid, which will be brought back to the Earth in 2010. The authors have installed an experimental small rover named “MINERVA” into the explorer. It was supposed to make a world first surface exploration after having been deployed onto the surface from the mother spacecraft. MINERVA was deployed on 12 November 2005. Unfortunately it could not reach at the asteroid because the deployment was not done at the good timing. Thus it became a smallest artificial planet. It survived more than 18 hours after the deployment, all the while the obtained data were transmitted to the Earth via the mother spacecraft. This paper describes the operation and the obtained data of MINERVA.
