In Historic First, Scientists Have Landed Rovers On an Asteroid and They’re Transmitt

[Platapus]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/in-h...n-an-asteroid/

[quote] Scientists have just made history by landing the world’s first unmanned drones on an asteroid.

On September 21st, researchers from Japanese space agency JAXA successfully deployed and landed two rovers on the surface of the Ryugu asteroid.

The two robots are now transmitting pictures and information of their surroundings as “the world’s first man-made object to explore movement on an asteroid’s surface.”


The robots, named Rover-1A and Rover-1B are both collectively known as Minerva-II1.


The first image that was transmitted by Rover-1A depicts its dizzying deployment from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft rotating. In the bottom left corner of the image, you can see the surface of the Ryugu asteroid.


The second photo that was released by JAXA shows Rover-1B’s immediate deployment from the spacecraft.


The third photo was taken while Rover-1A was hopping around the surface of the 1-kilometer-wide space rock.

Scientists believe that asteroids contain a treasure trove of information about the solar system’s evolution and history. The two drones will be collecting samples and data from above and below the surface of Ryugu until their scheduled return to Earth in 2020.

“I cannot find words to express how happy I am that we were able to realize mobile exploration on the surface of an asteroid,” said Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager. “I am proud that Hayabusa2 was able to contribute to the creation of this technology for a new method of space exploration by surface movement on small bodies.”

Takashi Kubota, spokesperson for the Hayabusa2 project, added: “The good news made me so happy.


“The image taken by MINERVA-II1 during a hop allowed me to relax as a dream of many years came true. I felt awed by what we had achieved in Japan. This is just a real charm of deep space exploration.”

[Schroeder]

Awesome. Strange how quiet our media are considering what wide coverage the Rosetta/ Philae mission got.

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Awesome. Strange how quiet our media are considering what wide coverage the Rosetta/ Philae mission got.

Those charlatans are a bit distracted at the moment. Presidents and Judges to crucify don't ya know.

[Eichhörnchen]

Fabulous post, mate

[Skybird]

Rover-1A and Rover-1B ? Very creative. I would have called the two Bruce and Willis.

[Jimbuna]

Or Major and Tom.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Those charlatans are a bit distracted at the moment. Presidents and Judges to crucify don't ya know.

I wasn't aware our media did that....I'm not from the US....

[Dowly]

Touchdown!

MASCOT lands safely on asteroid Ryugu

The near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, located approximately 300 million kilometres from Earth, has a new inhabitant: On 3 October 2018, the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) landed on the asteroid and began to work. The lander successfully separated from the Japanese Hayabusa2 space probe at 03:58 CEST. The 16 hours in which the lander will conduct measurements on the asteroid’s surface have begun for the international team of engineers and scientists. The day before, the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 began its descent towards Ryugu. MASCOT was ejected at an altitude of 51 metres and descended in free fall – slower than an earthly pedestrian – to its destination, the asteroid. The relief about the successful separation and subsequent confirmation of the landing was clearly noticeable In the MASCOT Control Centre at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) as well as in the adjoining room: "It could not have gone better," explained MASCOT project manager Tra-Mi Ho from the DLR Institute of Space Systems. "From the lander's telemetry, we were able to see that it separated from the mothercraft, and made contact with the asteroid surface approximately 20 minutes later." The team is now in contact with the lander.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Touchdown!

MASCOT lands safely on asteroid Ryugu

This is so odd. I see absolutely nothing about that on the Tagesschau website which is usually a good news source.
It really surprises me that they don't cover this at all considering how much coverage the Rosetta mission got and that even the German DLR is actually involved in this .

[Dowly]

I would imagine the lack of "advertising" from JAXA is one factor why this isn't reported more. ESA made a bunch of videos and other stuff about Rosetta which made it much more visible that Hayabusa-2 is.


EDIT: Press conference:



Photo taken by MASCOT during descent. Shadow of the rover seen in top right corner.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Doki9KVX0AIZq7x.jpg