Deep Space In Situ Imaging Results of Commercial Off-the-Shelf Visual Monitoring System Aboard the Hayabusa2 Spacecraft

Abstract

Visual images are effective tools for monitoring the condition of spacecraft. In this article, we developed a low-cost, low impact, compact visual monitoring system using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices to perform critical situation monitoring of the Hayabusa2 touchdown mission. The in situ performance of all devices for the touchdown mission, such as the field programmable gate array, complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor, analog decoder, and first-in-first-out memory, was examined in terms of the image capturing time and the tuning of image sensors. The in situ image capturing results indicated that these devices can be successfully used in deep space applications. Our findings can provide a reference for the use of COTS devices in deep space applications.