{"id":16783,"date":"2018-09-24T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=16783"},"modified":"2018-09-24T01:50:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T05:50:08","slug":"the-japanese-hayabusa-2-spacecraft-deployed-two-rovers-onto-the-asteroid-ryugu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=16783","title":{"rendered":"The Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft deployed two rovers onto the asteroid Ryugu"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday the Japanese spacecraft\u00a0Hayabusa-2<\/a>\u00a0has successfully placed two mini-rovers named MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B<\/a> onto the near earth\u00a0asteroid Ryugu<\/a>, which is about 1 kilometer (0.6\u00a0mi) in diameter:\u00a0\u00a0They Made It! Japan’s Two Hopping Rovers Successfully Land on Asteroid Ryugu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Here is a sampling of postings on Tweeter as the spacecraft approached the asteroid and then deployed the rovers:\u00a0Tweets\u00a0 by HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) | Twitter<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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[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<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/z0wxS8czrH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n