Evaluation of LIDAR System in Rendezvous and Touchdown Sequence of Hayabusa Mission

Abstract

Hayabusa, launched in May 2003, is the first Japanese spacecraft to have explored the small asteroid Itokawa (1998SF36) and has touched down on Itokawa twice. LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) technology has been developed as an important navigation sensor with the characteristics of light weight (3.7 kg) and wide dynamic range (50 km to 50 m). The performance of LIDAR was perfect in the on-orbit operation and led to Hayabusa successfully touching down on Itokawa. This paper introduces the components of the LIDAR system and discusses ranging results of the onboard operation. For hardware, this paper focuses on the laser module that provided a lot of knowledge and the receiver that is important for evaluating the ranging data. The evaluation is takes particular note of the behavior of the receiver.