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This spectacular photo shows the view of the Ryugu asteroid of the Minerva-II1A rover after its successful landing on September 21, 2018. The spacecraft is one of the two that landed on Ryugu from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft of the # 39; Japanese Aerospace Agency. This is the first time that two mobile rovers have landed on an asteroid.
Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The suspense is over: two tiny jumping robots managed to land on an asteroid called Ryugu – and they even sent back wild postcards from their new home.
The tiny rovers are part of the Hayabusa2 asteroid sampling mission of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. The agency's engineers deployed the robots Friday morning (September 21), but the JAXA waited until today (September 22) to confirm that the operation had succeeded and that both rovers had landed safely.
We are sorry for making you wait! MINERVA-II1 comprises two vehicles, 1a and 1b. Both rovers are confirmed to have landed on Ryugu's surface. They are in good condition and have transmitted photos and data. We have also confirmed that they are moving to the surface. #asteroidlanding
– HAYABUSA2 @ JAXA (@ haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018
The rovers are part of the MINERVA-II1 program and are designed to jump along the surface of the asteroid, taking pictures and collecting data. In fact, one of the initial images returned home by the hoppers is terribly fuzzy, because the robot broke it while it was still moving.
The Minerva-II1 vehicle of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency captured this view of the Ryugu asteroid (bottom) and the Hayabusa2 spacecraft (top right) just after the separation of the space vehicle of 21 September 2018.
Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
In order to complete the deployment, the main spacecraft of the Hayabusa2 mission was carefully lowered to the surface until it was only 120 feet away ( 55 meters). After the rovers passed, the spacecraft rose to its typical altitude of about 12.5 miles above the surface of the asteroid (20 kilometers).
The MINERVA-II1B vehicle captured this image of the Ryugu asteroid on September 21, 2018, shortly after separating from the space probe Hayabusa2 of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. The asteroid appears at the bottom right.
Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The agency still has two more deployments to complete before it can rest: Hayabusa2 is expected to roll out a larger rover called MASCOT in October and another tiny one next year. And of course, the main spacecraft has a host of other tasks to accomplish during his stay at Ryugu – most notably, to collect a sample of the primitive world to take home for laboratory analysis.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+ Original article on Space.com.
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