Return and Recovery Operation of the Hayabusa2 Sample Return Capsule

Abstract

Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 has successfully touched-down on Ryugu and carried out the explosive-packed SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor) experiment in the 1st quarter of 2019. The spacecraft (S/C) is planned to be inserted into the return orbit from the asteroid at the end of 2019 and to return to the vicinity of the Earth at the end of 2020. After successive TCM (trajectory correction maneuvre) being carried out, the SRC (sample return capsule) is separated from the S/C and enters the earth atmosphere with a velocity of about 12 km/s. Passing through the severe aerodynamic heating corridor, SRC will jettison both the forebody and aftbody heatshields and deploy a parachute at an altitude of about 10 km. On deployment of the parachute, SRC will start to transmit a beacon signal, based on which the ground direction finding stations (DFS) will localize SRC. The present paper summarizes and reports the return and recovery operation of Hayabusa2 SRC, its instrumentation, and the onboard subsystems concerned with the return and recovery.