A Japanese spacecraft just landed on an asteroid

A remarkable scientific achievement, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has managed to put two small rovers on the surface of an asteroid hundreds of millions of kilometers from the Earth.

"The two rovers … are in good condition," tweeted Saturday the Japanese space agency.

The vehicles were transported aboard the Hayabusa 2, which reached the Ryugu asteroid in June. Since then, he has remained near the rock of space, conducting exploratory activities and surveying the asteroid for sampling before the weekend rover deployment.

Leaving the Earth in 2014, Hayabusa 2 took 42 months to reach its target at some 200 million kilometers.

The ambitious mission took a big step forward this weekend as Hayabusa 2 descended to about 60 meters from the 900-meter-wide asteroid before sending Rover-1A and Rover-1B into Minerva Lander. -II-1. The two rovers lost little time capturing close-up images of their surroundings, as well as performing tasks such as temperature readings of the rock surface.

During the mission, the rovers will also conduct studies on Ryugu's composition, which could give scientists a new insight into the development of the Earth and other planets in our solar system.

Both rovers are cylindrical and rather small – only 7 cm high and 18 cm in diameter. Unlike vehicles on Mars, these do not have wheels. With the asteroid having a low gravity, the "jump" provides a more efficient way of moving, so that scientists adjust each rotor with motorized internal rotors to allow such movement.

The Asteroid Surface Mobile Scout (MASCOT) will also be sent to explore the asteroid in the coming weeks. Developed by the German Aerospace Center and the French Space Agency CNES, MASCOT measures 29.5 cm × 27.5 cm × 19.5 cm. By landing on the space rock in October, MASCOT will spend time examining its surface structure and its magnetic properties.

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Finally, there is the Rover-2, developed by a group of universities headed by the Japanese Tohoku University. Expected to be deployed in 2019, the mobile has an octagonal prism shape, a height of 16 cm and a diameter of 15 cm. The Rover-2 incorporates multiple cameras, as well as optical and ultraviolet LEDs for illumination, which will help them detect floating dust particles.

Scientists are now preparing for a crucial part of the mission, namely the collection of Ryugu particle samples to bring back to Earth. If all goes well, the difficult task will run next month and Hayabusa 2 will move near the asteroid before pulling what can be described as a "ball" of 2 kg in the rock. This will help Hayabusa-2 collect rock samples that have not been directly exposed to the space environment, thus providing scientists with "fresh" materials.

The Hayabusa 2 mission will continue until December 2019, so that the collection of samples will reach Earth only at the end of 2020. But once there, the scientists will will be eager to analyze the samples to discover some of the mysteries of our lives. solar system.