@article{Soldini2020, 
author = {Stefania Soldini and Hiroshi Takeuchi and Sho Taniguchi and Shota Kikuchi and Yuto Takei and Go Ono and Masaya Nakano and Takafumi Ohnishi and Takanao Saiki and Yuichi Tsuda and Fuyuto Terui and Naoko Ogawa and Yuya Mimasu and Tadateru Takahashi and Atsushi Fujii and Satoru Nakazawa and Kent Yoshikawa and Yusuke Oki and Chikako Hirose and Hirotaka Sawada and Tomohiro Yamaguchi and Makoto Yoshikawa},
title = {Hayabusa2's superior solar conjunction mission operations: Planning and post-operation results},
year = {2020},
journal = {Astrodynamics},
volume = {4},
number = {4},
pages = {265-288},
keywords = {superior solar conjunction, Hayabusa2, Ryugu, hovering satellite, mission operations},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s42064-020-0076-7},
doi = {10.1007/s42064-020-0076-7},
abstract = {In late 2018, the asteroid Ryugu was in the Sun’s shadow during the superior solar conjunction phase. As the Sun-Earth-Ryugu angle decreased to below 3 ∘, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft experienced 21 days of planned blackout in the Earth-probe communication link. This was the first time a spacecraft had experienced solar conjunction while hovering around a minor body. For the safety of the spacecraft, a low energy transfer trajectory named Ayu was designed in the Hill reference frame to increase its altitude from 20 to 110 km. The trajectory was planned with the newly developed optNEAR tool and validated with real time data. This article shows the results of the conjunction operation, from planning to flight data.}
}