After 3.5 years of cruise, and about 3 months in the vicinity of its target, the MASCOT lander was deployed successfully on October 3, 2018 by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft onto the C-type near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu. After a free-fall of 5 ​min 51 ​s from an altitude of 41 ​m MASCOT experienced its first contact with the asteroid hitting a big boulder. The lander bounced for ~11 ​min 3 ​s before it came to rest. MASCOT was able to perform science measurements with its payload suite at 3 different locations on the surface of Ryugu. It investigated the fine-scale structure, multispectral reflectance, thermal characteristics and magnetic properties. The surface consists of very rugged terrain littered with large surface boulders. The in-situ measurements confirmed the absence of fine particles and dust as already implied by the remote sensing instruments aboard the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. After about 17 ​h of operations, the MASCOT mission terminated with the last communication contact as its primary batteries depleted. This paper summarizes the MASCOT mission covering its four years of in-flight operations, its preparation for the descent, landing and in-situ investigation on the asteroid Ryugu until the end of its operation.

经过3.5年的巡航，并在目标附近进行了约3个月的飞行，Hayabusa2号航天器于2018年10月3日成功将MASCOT着陆器部署到C型近地小行星（162173）Ryugu上。在从41 m的高度自由下落5分51秒后，MASCOT经历了与小行星的首次接触，撞击了一块大石头。着陆器在停下来前反弹了约11分钟3秒。MASCOT能够通过其有效载荷套件在Ryugu表面的3个不同位置进行科学测量。研究了微尺度结构，多光谱反射率，热特性和磁性能。地面由崎very不平的地形组成，地面上散布着巨大的巨石。实地测量证实了Hay鸟二号飞船上的遥感仪器已经暗示没有细小颗粒和灰尘。运行约17小时后，由于主电池耗尽，MASCOT任务以最后一次通信联系终止。本文总结了MASCOT任务，涵盖了其四年的飞行操作，为小行星Ryugu进行降落，着陆和原位研究的准备工作，直至其运行结束。