Japanese spacecraft has launched two small vehicles on an asteroid

This morning, a Japanese space probe deposited two tiny rovers on an asteroid nearly 200 million kilometers from the Earth. The vehicle is Hayabusa2, and the rovers were the first of a series of robots that the vehicle will launch on the surface of the asteroid in the coming months.

Operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Hayabusa2 is responsible for taking a sample of an asteroid named Ryugu and returning it to Earth. The spacecraft was launched in 2014 on top of an H-IIA rocket and arrived in Ryugu in June. It will recover several samples of the asteroid in the coming year before returning to our planet at the end of the year.

In the end, the goal is to learn more about this asteroid and better understand what they are made of. It is thought that asteroids, like Ryugu, are remnants of the first solar system, remaining relatively unchanged over the past 4.5 billion years. They therefore provide a good overview of what our cosmic neighborhood looked like when the first planets were formed. The study of a small asteroid sample provides scientists with many valuable information about how our planetary system was born.

Before Hayabusa2 grabs his samples, the spacecraft will spray Ryugu with robots. The first two deployed are Rover-1A and 1B. Hayabusa2 ejected them from a drum called MINERVA-II1 around 12:35 ET after descending to Ryugu and arriving 200 feet from the surface of the asteroid. Cylindrical, the rovers are equipped with several cameras and temperature sensors to map and image Ryugu. Unlike NASA rovers, these mobile robots do not have wheels. They actually have rotary engines buried inside these that allow the rovers to move their momentum and jump to the surface of the asteroid.

Although their goal is to collect data, Rover-1A and 1B are also intended to demonstrate that robots can explore a low-gravity environment. Ryugu is a little over half a mile in diameter, so it is not very attractive. This is why robots can not have normal wheels; otherwise, they would go away. But this jumping strategy should allow the rovers to explore the Ryugu surface independently without drifting.

Image: JAXA

MINERVA-II1, the drum that housed the rovers, takes its name from a lander transported during the Hayabusa mission, another JAXA mission launched in 2003 that became the first vehicle to recover samples of an asteroid. However, this lander, named MINERVA, was accidentally released when Hayabusa was too far from his asteroid, so that he was projected into space and never landed. We still have no official confirmation from JAXA, but these new rovers have indeed affected Ryugu. But if they managed to land successfully, they will eventually have accomplished part of the mission that Hayabusa originally intended to accomplish.

If Rover-1A and 1B are on Ryugu, they will soon have more business. In October, Hayabusa2 will launch another lander, designed by the German Aerospace Center, called MASCOT. This vehicle will be released at 328 feet and once on the surface, it will cross the asteroid in the same way as the rovers. It is equipped with four different instruments to measure the geology of Ryugu and study the temperature and the magnetic field of the object. In the coming months, Hayabusa2 will deploy its fourth robot, another mobile inside a second battery container called MINERVA-II2.

Of course, the main goal of Hayabusa2 is to get samples, and the spaceship will use very creative techniques to get up to three different sets of Ryugu documents. The first two samples will require Hayabusa2 to get closer to the asteroid and shoot him with a gun-like device. It is hoped that this will bring back enough debris that the probe will collect in its sample collector.

The third sample will be much more explosive. Hayabusa2 will attempt to recover materials in the depths of Ryugu, where the rock has not been affected by the environment. To do this, the spacecraft will first trigger a small explosive projectile, which will make a crater on the surface. Then, Hayabusa2 will dive into the hole he has created and pick up more rocks. In total, the spacecraft should gather a tiny amount of material: only 100 milligrams of dust

All this will take place next year – Hayabusa2 is expected to leave Ryugu at the end of 2019 – so there is still a long way to go. Meanwhile, another American spacecraft will attempt to capture much more material from another deep space asteroid named Bennu. This vehicle is NASA's OSIRIS-REx satellite, launched in 2016. It will arrive at Bennu later this year and will eventually attempt to catch up to 2 kilos of dust from a spot on the surface of the asteroid before return to Earth. So, if all goes well, two spacecraft from two different countries can bring asteroids back to the scientists' study.