The magazine MAQ September 2018 MAQ Magazine November 2018 | Page 275

MAQ/November 2018 / 07

this hopping mechanism can correct the attitude if the lander is in a different orientation once on the surface of Ryugu. MASCOT can also use the hop to move locations once; the lander does not hop multiple times like the MINERVA-II1 rovers.

Left: Illustration of MASCOT separating from Hayabusa2. Right: Illustration of MASCOT landing on the surface of Ryugu. (Image credit: JAXA)

MASCOT landing site candidate region (light blue area). Since MASCOT is expected to bounce several times after first touching down, a reasonably wide region is selected.

(Image credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu, AIST, CNES, DLR).