The Hayabusa2 lander MASCOT on the surface of asteroid (162173) Ryugu – Stereo-photogrammetric analysis of MASCam image data

After its release and a descent and bouncing phase, the Hayabusa2 lander MASCOT came to a final rest and MASCOT’s camera MASCam acquired a set of images of the surface of Ryugu. With MASCam’s instantaneous field of view of about 1 mrad, the images provide pixel scales from 0.2 to 0.5 mm pixel −1 in the foreground and up to 1 cm pixel −1 for surface parts in the background. Using a stereo-photogrammetric analysis of the MASCam images taken from slightly different positions due to commanded and unintentional movements of the MASCOT lander, we were able to determine the orientation for the different measurement positions. Furthermore, we derived a 3D surface model of MASCOT’s vicinity. Although the conditions for 3D stereo processing were poor due to very small stereo angles, the derived 3D model has about 0.5 cm accuracy in the foreground at 20 cm distance and about 1.5 cm at a distance of 40–50 cm.