Love this Eyes application. I've never watched launch & early orbit comm ops before.

Just saw a quick clip of the separation! Very nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TwlwZobc4

At 3 hours and 5 minutes.

AOS

AOS at CanberraDSN via DSS45 (background), with DSS34 a few moments later. GoldstoneDSN also acquired on time.

Click to view attachment

Sampler horn deployed!

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2014/12/20141205_hayabusa2_j.html

Always great to see parts of a spacecraft to contrast with space. Imagine seeing the regolith of the asteroid just below during sampling....

As is DESPATCH/ARTSAT2, another of the microsatellites launched with Hayabusa2 (and described here), according to its Facebook page.

The idea of bringing microsatellites along on deep space missions (or rather having them piggyback on Earth orbit departure maneuvers) opens up so many new opportunities, especially in outreach and technology development (ARTSAT is focusing on collaborative signal reconstruction from hundreds of amateur ground stations as an alternative to centralized downlink, and also includes a 3D printed sculpture designed at an art school).

Thank you. This picture, I believe, was taken by a camera constructed by
private donations (me included) which amounted to JPY 26 million, especially for
Hayabusa 2. Other contributions were also invied by JAXA. The camera itself cost
JPY 12 million.

I learnt just recently from somebody's blog that Hayabusa 2 will be moored
at a Lagrangian point between the Sun and the earth. Apparently, it also was
JAXA's intention with Hayabusa 1.

I am not sure how reliable this information is. Media has said nothing of this kind,
so far. P

That's very interesting, about the spacecraft being sent to the Sun-Earth L1 point. Where did you read that? Can you add a link?

As Weywot suggested, I've made a separate thread for PROCYON.

It was a blog entry. That is all I remember. I do not think I can find it again, I am afraid. However, I will try and
find more about this by some other means. If it is true there must be sometning more somewhere. P

Lingering at a Lagrange point seems very unlikely to me, considering the trouble they take slingshotting past Earth after one solar orbit to pick up speed just to get out to where the target asteroid is located.

I have a link as follows.

http://global.jaxa.jp/article/special/haya...aguchi02_e.html

It is actually Prof Kawaguchi mentioning it. If Hayabusa 2 has enough fuel left then reacing the L1 point
should not be that difficult? P

Here is another mention of Hayabusa 2 parking.

http://techwatcher-asia.com/?p=339

It now looks like real. Other people seem to know and I did not! P

Ohhhh, they mean to park it at a Lagrange point after returning from the asteroid. That makes more sense.

The purpose appears not to be to conduct any particular science there, but to test the general idea of parking things at Lagrange points.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=soc_30&k=2015010800392

Above link (Jiji.com) talks about a report that all 4 of the ion engines were tested at the very end of last year
and each ignited (?) properly and functioned for a few hours. They will soon test
combined use of ion engines. P

ISEE-3 proved the feasibility leaving a lagrange point to visit small bodies. Not much to prove. I'd say the purpose is to wait for the team to find a feasible follow-on, or determine there is none.

As of yesterday Hayabusa2 is doing well, so say the press here,
flying at 22 milliom km away, and will change direction in December. P

any news of the target body of PROCYON? it should have been selected by now

Not really, a short article of 25 January only says that it is at about 20 million km away,
doing substem testings. Actually, their occasional English translations are very good.

Also, no news about hydrogen observation so far. All next week I will be away in
Borneo jungles. P

Status report from last week: all systems good so far.

http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/hayabus...html#topics3767

In a Q&A session posted earlier, it was reported that they were having difficulty deciding on a name for the asteroid. Naming "Itokawa" was easy, but they are still undecided about the final name for 199JU3. (JAXA proposing the name "Itokawa" is like NASA choosing the name "von Braun")

Latest report from JAXA re earth swingby, it is now set to be on 3 December. P

The process of giving 1999 JU3 a proper name, subject to IAU rules has begun. Submissions being accepted:

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2015/07/20150722_hayabusa2.html

http://global.jaxa.jp/news/2015/#news5842

Oct. 5, 2015 Updated
“Ryugu” was selected as name of Hayabusa2 target asteroid

Asteroid 1999 JU3, a target of the Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa2,” was named “Ryugu”.
One major reason for the selection was that, in the Japanese ancient story “Urashima Taro”, the main character, Taro Urashima, brought back a casket from the Dragon’s palace, or the “Ryugu” Castle, at the bottom of the ocean, and the theme of “bringing back a treasure” is common as the Hayabusa2 will also bring back a capsule with samples. It was selected among 7,336 entries.
Thank you very much to so many of you who took part in the naming campaign.

A nice summary of the flyby (and the fate of the other payloads):
http://spaceflight101.com/hayabusa-2-aster...earth-swing-by/

According to the Yomiuri, a local Japanese newspaper with about 10 million circulation/day
Hayabusa 2 conducted an earth swingby successfully on 3 December and left its near earth orbit.

It is currently flying, as of midnight 14th December, 4.15 million km away from the earth,
at a speed of 32.31 km/second without problems.

Pandaneko (P)

Image of the southern hemisphere after closest approach here (edited for direct JAXA link):
http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/20151214_e/

Photographing the Earth just before Hayabusa2's swing-by : Complete version

English translation of spectrometer observations of Earth and moon.
http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/20151228_02_e/
The former is wet and the latter dry, so all is well!

A new and informative YouTube video. Published by JAXA on Apr 24, 2016.

'Hayabusa2 Remote Sensing Instruments'. Runtime = 5min 55sec LINK

Apparently, there is a new JAXA web page where you can look at Hayabusa2 position and the target position.

The article I found by chance said:

Right now, Hayabusa 2 is flying at 26.37km/second. Distance to earth at 11:00 on 17 May 2016 is approx. 2704x10,000
km, and the distance left is approx. 9820x10,000km.

P

I have somehow associated the arrival timing of Hayabusa2 with the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020, but I chance discovered last year
that Hayabusa2 will be arriving some time in the end of June to early July of this year.

During this period I will be walking again on the Flame Mountain in China west and from last year's experience in China
I will not be able to use internet properly. Shame...

The asteroid is now coming into view.

in English: Hayabusa2 has detected Ryugu!

Apparently, Hayabusa 2 is now only at Moon-Earth distance from the asteroid. I remember it looked like a dot
only a month or so ago. Is Hayabusa 2 that fast?

P

No, it's that slow. It will still take a month to reach Ryugu. With an ion engine you don't scream up to the target and then slam the brakes on!

Phil

Yup. At current relative velocity as of right now, about 25.75 days to get there.

Still...getting close!

There was an article in today's newspaper here. Students in the control room are being trained in more than 50
emergency operations using a model called Ryuguroid and the firing of the copper plate is scheduled
to take place in March next year (2019) with live (with 20 minutes delay) viewing.

I no longer remember the name of the first steroid. It was light in appearance, but this Ryugu is expected
to be dark.

P

Hyabusa 1 visited asteroid Itokawa.

There is a tiny article in today's local newspaper. Hayabusa 2 will arrive at Ryugu on 21 June and stop at 20km
above it The first landing (of what it does not say) will take place in September. My guess is that it is the battery
powered MASCOT, presumably befoe battery goes flat.

P

Yep, it corresponds to the mission schedule here: http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/mission_schedule/
Btw, H2 relative speed to Ryugu today is ~130 m/s at 250k km distance. http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/

Thank you, Pospa. I realise that the web page of Hayabusa 2 project is not available in Engish, whic is surprising.
On it, I found that the project team has just today made available, a smaller web page with more technical
aspects, called "Haya 2 NOW" and that is also only available in Japanese. The entrance to it is clickable on the main
Hayabusa 2 web page. Once in there you see sections as you can see below. I translated them for interested followers.


A: Current date and time is shown to seconds. Time is the local time where access is being made, not Japan Standard Time.
B: Time lapse since launch time (L: 13:22:04 3 December 2014) is shown.
C: Time of data generation, local to Hayabusa 2.
D: Time of data acquisition, local to ground station.
E: Position of Hayabusa 2.
F: This will flicker while high gain antenna is being used. High gain antenna is disk shaped. Power consumption (bus power) is also shown.
G: View from ONC-W1. Rough position and size of Ryugu is shown as seen by ONC-W1 in the vicinity of Ryugu.
H: Antenna being used is shown.
I: Orientation of the middle gain antenna (MGA) is shown in degrees. Orientation can be changed, looking to the earth.
J: Status of transmitters on board Hayabusa 2. Power amp. mode (A or , transmission mode, bit rates, antenna connected
K: Signal strength, bit rate, antenna being used by the two receivers on borad Hayabusa 2 when receiving transmission from gournd station.
L: Cumulative duration of each of 12 chemical thruster firing in seconds.
M: UDSC64 refers to the antenna at Usuda station, aboout 30km from my mountain summer cottage. It is in use if wave like appearance is seen.
N: USC34 refers to the smaller antenna at Uchinoura Space Centre. Other anttenas around the world will also be shown when in use.

In addition to above, there is a button (square in shape) at the lower right of the dusplay . This is a transmission simulator for signals from here to Hayabusa 2. It will show how long transmissions will take.
Please enjoy Haya 2 NOW.

Hayabusa 2 Project team
20 April 2018

My guess is that G is perhaps the most interesting because there on the G window we may be able to see
something before publicity pictures appear in newspapers etc.

P

Just to mention where exactly the entry point to Haya 2 NOW sub page. It is inside Hayabusa 2 project page which
Pospa carried, second web page, in particular. There, you find "Topics (information)" and there are tabs below it.
If you open the 4th tab from top you will find a diagram. Just above the diagram is a clickable portion,
"http://haya2now.jp/". It is in there.

What follows is the operational sequence as of yesterday.

10 January 2018/ Ion engine start (3rd period)
Early June Ion engine stop
Early June approach to 2500km
21 June to 5 July approach to 20km
End July approach to 5km
August gravity measurment device descend at 1km height
September to October Touch down operational slot 1
September to October Rover release operation slot 1 for rover release
November to December Joint operation (comms. break down)
January 2019 Approach to 5km
February 2019 Touch down operation slot 2
March to April Crater making operation
April to May Touch down operation slot 3
July Rover release operation slot slot 2
March to Novemver Stay close to Ryugu
Novemver to Decemver Departure

P

Wow, that's one of the neatest and most detailed mission websites I've ever seen, thanks for bringing it to our attention! It's going in my bookmarks even though I can't read Japanese...

Adding a little more on the Haya2NOW diagram, please see below, translated labels.

Labels on the Haya 2 NOWdiagram

From left to light and at each point across from top to bottom

1. Below Hayabusa 2 diagram/ Bus power consumption
2. Below ONC-W1/On board navigational camera outline view
3. Below ANTENNA/antenna
4. Below MGA/(from top to bottom) middle gain antenna, azimuthal angle, elevation angle
5. Below Transmitter/(from top down) transmitter, transmission power amp.,
transmission mode, transmission bit rate, antenna in use
6. Below receiver/ (from top down) Receiver, recption signal level, bit rate, antenna in use
7. Below Thruster/Thruster firing cumulative duration in seconds
Below the diagram is the list of ground stations. Two stations in Japan have communication simulator. Canberra has one, but not other overseas stations.
At each station Hayabusa 2 position is given with ground station local time. I think azimuth and elevation is local orientation at each. Just below the time reads Hayabusa position and just below it from left to right is azmuth and elevation.

Just belw directional information there is a set of numbers, date and time, which I am not familiar with. Top top single character 出 means apperance, and 没 means , usually, sink, or possibly disappear. My guess is that they are related to local horizon at each station.
Below all this is the health of communication. Below it is the time of communication start at each station.
If you open one of the simulators you will find, top down, At the topmost is the caption, comms. simulator, then below CMD1 to 3 reads "Send CMD1" etc.
Finally, at the bottom is repeated positional information of Hayabusa 2 with time local at each station.

What I fail to understand is the simulator. I had a brief go at it and a number keeps going up and that is about
all I can see. Can anybody tell me what this is all about. I know and everybody knows that it s about 20 minutes
from here to there, so what is the use of this simulator?

P

I know that there has been a kids contest about Ryugu's shape, but I am not too concerend about its shape.
Rather, I am becoming unsure of the success of the copper plate experiment. Below is the firiing video.

https://youtu.be/gmh2lGjXm7w

If Ryugu is very hard, then this copper firing ｍay not result in a big dip on the surface?

Somewhere, and I do not remember exactly where off hand, but somewhere within Hayabusa 2 web page,
there is a huge data set of numbers, all hayabusa 2's position, all free to be used for educational
purposes. Prof Yoshikawa there talks about possibe use of this data set, like, calculating the actual
discrepancy, from two body calculation for students.

P

If you take that copper plate impact - and apply it to a rubble like surface, in basically zero-G - it'll do plenty of damage !

Also, if I come to think about it, the mass of whatever contains the gun powder. Hayabusa 2 is something like
600 kg, I think, but Hayabusa 2 will hide away behind the asteroid when the firing takes place. Perhaps,
copper place is very thin?

P

This link provides a bit more information: http://www.muses-c.isas.ac.jp/kawalab/astro/pdf/2011C_8.pdf
Basically, the easiest way to think about it.
- Hayabusa 2 will orient in respect to the asteroid.
- The impactor (SCI) will deploy from the spacecraft.
- Hayabusa 2 will burn around the asteroid.
- The SCI will detonate.
- The resulting jet/projectile formed from the SCI will hit the asteroid, while the charge case/control system will fragment into space.


I dont have a space background, but i do have Shaped-Charge knowledge to comment somewhat. IMO the charge is large enough to do damage. In oilfield applications, a 0.025kg charge can punch a hole through ~13-45" of concrete or 4-9" of steel depending on type of charge and materials of liner. For reference, the SCI used on Hayabusa 2 is a 10lb (4.5kg) explosive with a 5.5lb (2.5kg) liner.

The use of copper (vs a denser material), as well as the demonstration video would point towards using an EFP. Think of it as shooting a 5lb bullet/missile at the asteroid at 2000m/s. It is going to do something.

The documentation/papers keep saying shaped charge (SC), an interesting question that i have is if they are actually using an EFP (explosively formed projectile). Larger applications (mainly military) work more like EFPs. In vary broad terms, the biggest difference is the angle of the liner (SC < 90, EFP > 90). The two function fundamentally differently however. The SC creates a high velocity 'jet' that stretches and can create a smaller diameter hole in a steel plate 150%-700% ID of charge (with the upper range being denser materials like high-%-tungsten). EFP's on the other hand basically reshape the metal liner to form a large fast moving bullet/warhead- these are MUCH slower, but make a less deep but broader impact.

Thank you, caotico09, for the document and your comments particularly towards the last.
My take now then is that the copper plate momentum, much of it, will come largely from its velocity
and I am happierr with that thought. 15kg must be a lot heavier than the plate.

By the way, I saw somewhere, a high speed camera photo of the shape of the copper plate in flight.
It looked very much like a cylindrical Chinese dumpling.

P