Hopper concepts for small body landers Original Research Article

The investigation of small bodies, comets and asteroids, can contribute substantially to our understanding of the formation and history of the Solar System. In situ observations by landers play an important role in this field. Due to the low gravity of comets and asteroids, mobility of surface elements can be achieved by hopping devices, providing relatively low delta-v. The first such hopper was part of the Soviet Phobos 2 Mission in the 1980s. The current paper presents the results of a study for a small (∼10 kg) hopper device, optimized for a mission to a relatively small asteroid. The hopper may, e.g. be considered as part of the Japanese Hayabusa 2 mission, to be launched in the 2014/15 timeframe. Concepts for the actuation of the hopper, dynamics and mechanical aspects are discussed in further detail.