[X] My Assistant

[charborob]

Hayabusa 2 has started its descent towards Ryugu for Minerva deployment. Real time navigation images are posted here. One new image every half hour or so.

[dvandorn]

Outstanding!

I have one thing about which I am curious. The final of the three images states it was taken while its rover was in mid-hop. I'm wondering why any hopping activity was occurring without any commands sent from Earth -- I didn't see any indication of pre-programmed hopping set up in the deployment and landing timelines that JAXA posted. And from the other statements made, both pre- and post-landing, I can't see any indication that hopping actions were commanded during this time.

I *did* see something that indicated that the rovers were expected to "bounce" and take a good 15 minutes to settle down onto the surface in a stable, non-moving attitude.

Could the caption which indicates the rover was hopping really indicate that it was in a bounce and not in a deliberate or commanded hop?

The difference would be like stating that, say, Opportunity was "roving" as it bounced to a stop within Eagle Crater...

[djellison]

I'm wondering why any hopping activity was occurring without any commands sent from Earth

You would absolutely pre-program a long sequence of activities for them, including hops, imaging, temperature measurements and comm passes. Our situational awareness for them is poor. We don't know what way up they will land, if they'll get stuck under a boulder etc etc

Having an autonomous sequence of imaging and hopping would be the only rational way to execute a mission like this.