1,2,3,4,4,- 1Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain (eri.tatsumi@iac.es)
- 2Department of Astrophysics, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- 3Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- 4Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, Kanagawa, Japan
- 5University of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
The Hayabusa2 International Visibility Enhancement Project is engaged in activities to ensure that the scientific data returned by JAXA's Hayabusa2 mission are openly disclosed and accessible to both professional researchers and the general public. The observation data of the near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu acquired by the Hayabusa2 onboard instruments are publicly available through JAXA's Data Archives and Transmission System (DARTS) and NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS). To facilitate intuitive access to these archives, we have developed the JAXA Asteroid Data Explorer 2 (JADE2; https://jade2.darts.isas.jaxa.jp/), a web-based platform that allows users to search and visualize data from the Hayabusa2 instruments without prior expertise in mission data formats. The first version of JADE2 was publicly released in 2025. Here we present the major updates introduced in the January 2026 release.
The initial JADE2 release incorporated data from the Optical Navigation Camera (ONC), the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3), the Thermal Infrared Imager (TIR), the Light Detection and Ranging instrument (LIDAR), and the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) lander. Detailed descriptions of each instrument and product level are provided in the corresponding Software Interface Specifications (SIS) documents and references therein. In the January 2026 update, we have added several higher-level products: the ONC I/F and reflectance Mosaic Maps (L3dm, L3drm, L3em, L3erm), and the NIRS3 thermal-removed reflectance spectra (L2D). New datasets are also provided in GIS-compatible formats (GeoTIFF, GeoPackage) that can be readily ingested into applications such as QGIS and ArcGIS. Additional content includes new global basemap datasets covering a range of illumination conditions and spatial resolutions, new color maps designed to enhance spectral and topographic features, and high-resolution 3D models of the touchdown site and of the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) crater before and after its formation.
The January 2026 update also introduces new viewing functions for LIDAR 3D data, interactive adjustment of colormap hues, and improved rendering of 3D models. For the Hayabusa2 trajectory display, we have added a spacecraft-perspective view frame and a blinking-light indicator synchronized with the observation timing of each instrument, allowing users to intuitively follow the mission's operations along the timeline.
JADE2 enables users to search and visualize data from multiple Hayabusa2 instruments through a single interface. In the near future, we plan to incorporate data from additional instruments such as DCAM3 and the MINERVA-II rovers, as well as further higher-level products. We are also exploring the extension of JADE2 to the upcoming targets of the Hayabusa2 extended mission and to other planetary missions, with the long-term goal of providing a unified data-exploration platform for small-body science.
Acknowledgements. This work is supported by the JAXA Hayabusa2 International Visibility Enhancement Project. The data served by JADE2 are available from DARTS (https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/).
How to cite: Tatsumi, E., Ichikawa, M., Yokota, Y., Shoji, D., Honda, K., Yamamoto, M., Murakami, S., Nagai, Y., Wargnier, A., and Sato, H.: JADE2: a system for the search and visualization of Hayabusa2 scientific data (updates in 2026), Europlanet Science Congress 2026, The Hague, The Netherlands, 7–11 Sep 2026, EPSC2026-463, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2026-463, 2026.
