Study for missions to minor bodies next to Hayabusa

Abstract

The observation of Asteroid Itokawa by Hayabusa spacecraft has brought us a lot of new knowledge for very small (about 500m in length) S-type asteroid. We already have started to consider next space mission to small bodies in the solar system. For the next asteroid mission, we would like to explore C-type asteroid, which is also major type in the asteroid belt. This type of asteroid is supposed to have organic matter or water more than S-type asteroid, and it is important to study the material related to life. In this paper, we present the current plan for the next exploration to asteroids. We also want to encourage many researchers to join our asteroid mission.