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On Saturday afternoon, two vehicles collectively known as MINERVA-II1 (MIcro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for the asteroid, the second generation) broke away from the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft and headed for the nearby surface. from the Ryugu asteroid.
One of the fully autonomous rovers captured the image above while he was jumping on the surface shortly after landing. You can see Ryugu on the left and a reflection of the sun – this bright spot on the right.
If it seems a little vague, it's because the mobile was moving when he broke the beautiful picture.
The gravity on Ryugu is so low that the engineers had to be very creative in thinking of ways to move the rovers on the surface. A mobile like those used on Mars would fly away just as soon as its wheels started to spin. Roll on the rock was out. But jumps were still a perfectly viable option for small rovers, which only measure 7 inches in diameter and 2.7 inches in height.
When the robot is ready to move, an engine rotates inside, propelling the mobile out of the box. At low gravity, this small jump is enough to send the rover into space, hanging over the surface for 15 minutes and traveling nearly 50 feet before landing.
The picture above was taken in the middle of the jump as one of the rovers flew over the surface. A second pair of rovers will be deployed next year. You can follow the current status of the Hayabusa mission here.
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