Satnews Daily
November 21st, 2013

JAXA—The Impact Of The Hayabusa2's Test (Satellite)



Photo of the Hayabusa2's SCI impact test, courtesy of JAXA.

[SatNews] The Japan Aerospace Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2's Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) is a device to create an artificial crater on the asteroid 1999JU3, which is the destination of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft.

By making and observing an artificial crater, JAXA can acquire data about the surface of the asteroid as well as the interior of the asteroid, as well. In addition, by sampling near the crater, JAXA can collect inside samples of the asteroid.

Hayabusa2 applies a method to throw a metal projectile against the asteroid with high speed to create an artificial crater. Through this test, JAXA confirmed the accelerating part of the projectile while aiming to verify if its speed, configuration, and thrown direction precision met the design when the pyrotechnics, which were comparable to those of actual ones for the flight, were ignited to set off the projectile.

The test results were most impressive, as the speed and configuration were almost as designed, and the direction precision was also good, as the SCI precisely hit a target that was 100 meters away. JAXA was able to successfully complete the performance confirmation test of the SCI pyrotechnic feature.

Further details at http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html