Hayabusa2 Extended Mission: New Voyage to Rendezvous with a Small Asteroid Rotating with a Short Period
M. Hirabayashi, Y. Mimasu, N. Sakatani, S. Watanabe, Y. Tsuda, T., Saiki, S. Kikuchi, T. Kouyama, M. Yoshikawa, S. Tanaka, S. Nakazawa, Y., Takei, F. Terui, H. Takeuchi, A. Fujii, T. Iwata, K. Tsumura, S. Matsuura, Y., Shimaki, S. Urakawa, Y. Ishibashi, S. Hasegawa, M. Ishiguro

TL;DR
The paper discusses an extended JAXA mission where Hayabusa2 will rendezvous with a small, fast-rotating asteroid to study its properties, collision history, and advance planetary defense technologies.
Contribution
It proposes two feasible scenarios for the extended mission to rendezvous with small asteroids, focusing on scientific assessments and operational planning.
Findings
Two viable mission scenarios are identified for rendezvous with small asteroids.
The mission will enhance understanding of small asteroid physical properties and collision histories.
Technologies developed will support planetary defense efforts.
Abstract
Hayabusa2 is the Japanese Asteroid Return Mission and targeted the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu, conducted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The goal of this mission was to conduct proximity operations including remote sensing observations, material sampling, and a Small Carry-On Impact experiment, as well as sample analyses. As of September 2020, the spacecraft is on the way back to Earth with samples from Ryugu with no critical issues after the successful departure in November 2019. Here, we propose an extended mission in which the spacecraft will rendezvous with a small asteroid with ~30 m - ~40 m in diameter that is rotating at a spin period of ~10 min after an additional ~10-year cruise phase. We introduce that two scenarios are suitable for the extended mission. In the first scenario, the spacecraft will perform swing-by maneuvers at Venus once and Earth twice to…
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