  The science and origins of asteroids is deemed high priority in the Planetary
Science Decadal Survey. Two of the main questions from the Decadal Survey
pertain to what the "initial stages, conditions, and processes of solar system
formation and the nature of the interstellar matter" that was present in the
protoplanetary disk, as well as determining the "primordial sources for organic
matter." Major scientific goals for the study of planetesimals are to decipher
geological processes in SSSBs not determinable from investigation via in situ
experimentation, and to understand how planetesimals contribute to the
formation of planets. Ground based observations are not sufficient to examine
SSSBs, as they are only able to measure what is on the surface of the body;
however, in situ analysis allows for further, close up investigation as to the
surface characteristics and the inner composure of the body. The Asteroid
Mobile Imager and Geologic Observer (AMIGO) is a 1U stowed autonomous robot
that can perform surface hopping on an asteroid with an inflatable structure.
It contains science instruments to provide stereo context imaging,
micro-imaging, seismic sensing, and electric field measurements. Multiple
hopping robots are deployed as a team to eliminate single-point failure and add
robustness to data collection. An on-board attitude control system consists of
a thruster chip of discretized micro-nozzles that provides hopping thrust and a
reaction wheel for controlling the third axis. For the continued development of
the robot, an engineering model is developed to test various components and
algorithms.
