An in-situ observation of small planetary bodies (asteroids or comets) has been of great interest for planetary science. The authors have proposed a small rover for MUSES-C asteroid exploration mission of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The proposed rover adopts a novel and innovative mobility that drives a rover by hopping, which has a lot of advantages under the micro-gravity environment on the surface of small planetary bodies. A test model of the proposed rover was developed and the micro-gravity experiments were conducted. This paper describes the experimental results, which are compared with the simulation analysis.
