The Japanese space Agency (JAXA) announced that two of her Bouncing Rover successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu and even managed to collect some data and send back some photos of his space adventure. The landing vehicles was made on September 21, however, JAXA decided to wait until today to ensure the success and safety of the produced planting.
The Rovers are part of the MINERVA-II1 and designed to move on the surface of the asteroid using a special rotating flywheel, which allows them to cover the distance by jumping. The first pictures sent by the spacecraft, was a very “blurry”, as they were made at the time of the next jump.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting! Two Rover MINERVA-II1 (1a and 1b) has successfully landed on the surface of the Ryuga. Both machines in excellent condition and has already transferred the pictures and data. We also reiterate that they are moving on the surface”, — informs the official page of the mission on Twitter.
This image was acquired by the Rover MINERVA-II1A with the surface of the asteroid Ryugu shortly after a successful landing. The picture was “blurry” because it was made at a time when Rover made the jump to move. On the surface of Ryugu at the moment there are two such Rover. This is the first case in history when the surface of the asteroid landed two mobile Rover
Rover MINERVA-II1 Japanese aerospace exploration Agency took a picture where you can see the surface of the asteroid Ryugu (bottom) and the spacecraft “Hayabusa-2” (top right of the picture), immediately after separated from the space probe 21 September 2018
To fit vehicles were less stringent, the main probe “Hayabusa-2” descended to a height of 55 meters above the surface of the asteroid. After the Rovers were unlocked from the apparatus, the probe again gained altitude and took to the initial orbit at an altitude of 20 kilometers from the surface of the Ryuga.
Rover MINERVA-II1B took this photo Ryugu 21 September 2018, shortly after being undocked from the probe “Hayabusa-2”. On the right part of the image is the surface of the asteroid
Recall that the surface of the asteroid Ryugu Japanese space Agency is going to plant two devices: a larger immobile lander MASCOT will be reset in October of this year, and another compact Rover MINERVA next year. Before the main spacecraft “Hayabusa-2” also has important scientific problems. One of the main gathering soil samples and sending them to Earth for analysis.
The success of the Japanese space Agency can be discussed in our Telegram chat.
Japanese Rovers successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid and sent back the first pictures
Nikolai Khizhnyak