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Two small Japanese robots landed on a distant asteroid Last weekend.
The robots made small jumps, making it the first time that a device on our planet is moving to the surface of an asteroid.
The two machines, called rovers, landed on the Ryugu asteroid on September 21st. The Japan Space Agency announced that they had been lowered to the surface by an unmanned spacecraft called Hayabusa2.
Asteroids are small rocky objects orbiting the sun. They have sometimes been described as minor planets.
The Japanese spacecraft arrived for the first time in Ryugu last June. He flew nearly 55 meters from the asteroid before releasing the rovers. Hayabusa2 then climbed back to a waiting position about 20 kilometers above the surface.
The next day, the Japanese space agency JAXA released photos that the rovers had returned from the landing zone. One shows Ryugu's dark stone, with a line of bright light that illuminates the surface of the asteroid.
"I can not find words to express my joy," Yuichi Tsuda, JAXA project manager, said in a statement after the robots arrived.
The rovers are named MINERVA-II 1a and 1b. They are about the size of a bobbin used to hold biscuits. Their movements are powered by solar energy from the sun. Low levels of gravity on the asteroid make rolling difficult, so rovers move by taking jumps, up to 15 meters at a time.
They will continue to move on the surface, take pictures and collect information on the temperature. The Japanese space agency has announced that it will continue to jump as long as its solar equipment and power will last.
Hayabusa2 will launch a bigger rover and landing gear in the coming months.
Why asteroids?
You may be wondering why send a spaceship millions of miles away to land on an ancient piece of rock crossing the space? Scientists believe that asteroids can provide information about the early days of our solar system, dating back 4 billion years.
Ryugu orbits the Sun between Earth and Mars. It is a type C asteroid, the most common type of asteroid in our solar system. Scientists believe that some asteroids may contain biological matter and water. Ryugu can give researchers a window to see the whole way from the beginning of life.
JAXA hopes to find out what Ryugu is doing by collecting information about the surface of the asteroid and bringing it home. Hyabusa2 is about to try three brief landings on Ryugu to recover stones some samples. The first attempt should take place in October.
Later this week, the spacecraft is expected to release another lander on the asteroid. The device is a project of German and French space agencies. Known as MASCOT, it will carry four observation devices. The spacecraft will release a larger mobile, called Minerva-II-2, in 2019.
Hyabusa2 will remain in Ryugu until the end of next year. Then he will return to Earth with the asteroid samples. JAXA expects the spacecraft to return home by 2020.
Scientists will study the samples to better understand how the planets formed around the Sun in the early days of our solar system.
In time, these samples will be compared to those that the US Space Agency hopes to obtain from the asteroid Bennu. The NASA spacecraft was launched two years ago. He should arrive at Bennu in early December.
The NASA spacecraft will then take samples of the asteroid in 2020 and, three years later, it will return to Earth to be studied by scientists.
I am Anne Ball.
Anne Ball wrote this story for VOA Learning English with information from the Associated Press. George Grow was the publisher.
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Words in this story
asteroid – not. any of the thousands of small planets that revolve around the sun
biscuit – not. a sweet food baked, usually small, flat and round, made from flour and sugar
biological – adj. of, relating to, or obtained from living things
sample – not. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing he was caught
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