Abstract
The authors are involved in the development of a tiny rover system onboard "Hayabusa-2" spacecraft which is scheduled to launch in 2014 for the Near Earth asteroid "1999JU3." The development of Hayabusa-2 started very urgently after its predecessor spacecraft "Hayabusa" made a self-sacrificing reentry into the Earth in 2010. The authors have a heritage how to develop a surface exploration rover through the experience on "MINERVA" rover in Hayabusa mission. But the rover system for Hayabusa-2 is a brand-new one since it is designed to fit the new target asteroid, of which surface environment and conditions are different from those of the previous one. The mobile system of the primary rover has the same strategy on its hopping movement as MINERVA, but is slightly different on the configuration of the actuators. This paper describes the mobile system of the primary rover onboard Hayabusa-2.
