The Robot AwardMEXT Minister Award

Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa 2
Asteroid Exploration RobotMINERVA-Ⅱ
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Hayabusa 2 Project TeamMINERVA-Ⅱ Project Team

Sample return mission
from deep space©AKIHIRO IKESHITA■Deep space exploration robotics technology ahead of the world
Outer space is a region that humans can’t generally just reach out

and touch, so we have continued to make mistakes, unable to workboard the robots had algorithms enabling them to operatecompletely autonomously without commands from Earth.

towards success with trial-and-error, but instead requiring highly■The world’s first celestial body surface exploration robot

humans have never gone and careful investigation is required, highon September 21, 2018. Rover 1A observed the asteroid’s surface

reliable spacecraft. However, with deep space, a place wherereliability must be combined with ambitious exploration, combining
two essentially opposing ideas. In this unique environment,

Hayabusa 2 succeeded in touching down and gathering samples
twice, flexibly adapting to the unknown environment that only
became known upon arrival andmaintaining a steady level ofdays) until October 26, 2018. It sent a total of 609 images of thesurface of the asteroid to Earth. During that time, it covered
approximately ¼ of the asteroid’s surface.

Rover 1B was active from September 24, 2018 for ten asteroid days,
This feat was the world’s firsttwo methods: the Human in the Loopmobile exploration of the surface

method which is based onof a small celestial body in ourcommands from Earth, andsolar system. The robots wereautonomous functions of thealso the first from Japan tospacecraft such as the event-driven

directly explore the surface of acontrol sequence function andmarkers.

from multiple locations for 113 asteroid days (approximately 35 Earthand took 39 images.

reliability. It was controlled throughartificial features such as target

The two robots were launched from the mother ship to the asteroid

celestial body.
Hayabusa 2 tracking
the target marker

Image shot by MINERVA-Ⅱ■Compact and light autonomous exploration robot MINERVA-Ⅱ
The MINERVA-II are twin robots that were put on board Hayabusa

2, with the goal of performing mobile exploration on the surface ofthe asteroid Ryugu, which is just under 1km in size.

The robots are 18cm in diameter and 7cm tall (excludingprotrusions), and each one is extremely small and light with a massof just over 1.1kg. They are powered by solar cells attached to thesurface. The robots are equipped with mechanisms, cameras,sensors, and radios to move by hops in the very small gravity

environment of the asteroid surface (approximately 1/100,000compared to Earth).

Rover 1A (Hibou)

Since there was a big communication time lag (approximately 40

minutes round trip) between the asteroid and earth, the software onRover 1B (Owl)

Two MINERVA-Ⅱ robots

Contact:

JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
Address: 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku,
Sagamihara, Kanagawa(Hayabusa 2) Yuya Mimasu
Tel: 070-3177-7030(MINERVA-Ⅱ) Tetsuo Yoshimitsu Tel: 042-759-8304
THE 9TH ROBOT AWARD

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E-mail: mimasu.yuya@jaxa.jp
E-mail: kikko@nnl.isas.jaxa.jp