Separation Experiment for OMOTENASHI Moon Lander at Extremely High Spin Rates

This paper describes a separation experiment conducted at extremely high spin rates for OMOTENASHI, being developed as the world's smallest Moon lander. The experiment validated the separation method used in the landing sequence and the tipoff impulse was estimated from the motion of the separated object. The study showed that the tipoff impulse increases superlinearly in the high spin rate region. This information is indispensable in determining the operational spin rate of OMOTENASHI in orbit. The method described in this paper can be applied widely to separation experiments for small spinning satellites and rocket stages.