On Friday the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 has successfully placed two mini-rovers named MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B onto the near earth asteroid Ryugu, which is about 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) in diameter: They Made It! Japan’s Two Hopping Rovers Successfully Land on Asteroid Ryugu.
Hayabusa-2 came within 55 meters of the surface of the asteroid to release the rovers. The spacecraft then moved back about 20 km from the surface. The rovers will explore the surface by short jumps or hops from one spot to another.
Here is a sampling of postings on Tweeter as the spacecraft approached the asteroid and then deployed the rovers: Tweets by HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) | Twitter:
[MINERVA-II1] September 20 at 23:50 JST: the altitude of the spacecraft is about 6 km. This is the fifth time to reach this altitude. The photograph shows Ryugu, taken with the ONC-W1 at around 23:20 JST. The little world is about 320 million km from the Earth. #asteroidlanding pic.twitter.com/z0wxS8czrH
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 20, 2018
[MINERVA-II1] #asteroidlanding https://t.co/iafav3jguJ pic.twitter.com/GBvfEYcPTV
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 21, 2018
[MINERVA-II1] September 22 at 15:00 JST. We have confirmed Hayabusa2 has returned to the home position (altitude about 20km) as planned & the spacecraft’s condition is nominal. This completes the operation for the MINERVA-II1 separation. Thank you for your support from everyone!
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018
We are sorry we have kept you waiting! MINERVA-II1 consists of two rovers, 1a & 1b. Both rovers are confirmed to have landed on the surface of Ryugu. They are in good condition and have transmitted photos & data. We also confirmed they are moving on the surface. #asteroidlanding
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018
Photo taken by Rover-1B on Sept 21 at ~13:07 JST. It was captured just after separation from the spacecraft. Ryugu’s surface is in the lower right. The misty top left region is due to the reflection of sunlight. 1B seems to rotate slowly after separation, minimising image blur. pic.twitter.com/P71gsC9VNI
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018
This dynamic photo was captured by Rover-1A on September 22 at around 11:44 JST. It was taken on Ryugu’s surface during a hop. The left-half is the surface of Ryugu, while the white region on the right is due to sunlight. (Hayabusa2 Project) pic.twitter.com/IQLsFd4gJu
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018
The ambitious mission is really just getting started:
- The larger rover MASCOT will be deployed to the surface in October.
- The mini-hopper MINERVA-II2 will be deployed in 2019.
- Samples of the asteroid will be returned to earth in 2020.
Find more images from the spacecraft at Navigation Images from the MINERVA-Ⅱ1 deployment operation | Galleries | JAXA HAYABUSA2 PROJECT.
Animations of the mission events and technologies:
A press conference on the event:
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