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The Japanese space probe on Friday released a pair of exploration probes to an egg-shaped asteroid to collect mineral samples likely to shed light on the origin of the solar system.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the Hayabusa2 had dumped the biscuit-shaped robots around the asteroid Ryugu.
If the mission succeeds, the rovers will lead the first robotic and moving observation of the surface of an asteroid.
Taking advantage of the low gravity of the asteroid, they will jump to the surface, reaching 15 meters (49 feet) and will stay in the air for 15 minutes, to examine its physical characteristics with cameras and sensors.
So far, everything is fine, but JAXA has yet to wait for Hayabusa2 to send rovers data to Earth in a day or two to determine if the probes' output has been successful, officials said.
"We have a lot of hope. We do not have confirmation yet, but we are very, very optimistic, "Yuichi Tsuda, JAXA project manager, told reporters.
"I can not wait to see pictures. I want to see images of space seen from the surface of the asteroid, "he said.
The cautious announcement came after a similar survey conducted in 2005 by JAXA released a mobile that had failed to reach its target asteroid.
Next month, Hayabusa2 will deploy an "impactor" that will explode over the asteroid, firing a 2-kg (4-pound) copper object into the surface to explode a crater a few meters in diameter.
From this crater, the probe will collect "cool" materials not exposed to millennia of winds and radiation, hoping for answers to some fundamental questions about life and the universe, including the contribution of space to the life on Earth.
The spacecraft will also launch a Franco-German landing vehicle called Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (Mascot) for surface observation.
The Hayabusa2, the size of a large refrigerator and equipped with solar panels, is the successor of JAXA's first asteroid explorer, the Hayabusa – Japanese Falcon.
This probe, with the help of NASA, returned from a smaller potato-shaped asteroid in 2010 with dust samples – despite various setbacks during its seven-year epic odyssey – and was hailed as a scientific triumph.
The Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014 and will return to Earth with its samples in 2020.
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