Japan landed two bouncing rovers on an asteroid.

Space.com makes an announcement that sounds… more fun than usual. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency landed two rovers that hop (like fleas? like springtails? like bunnies?) onto asteroid Ryugu, where they’re already sending images home:

They Made It! Japan’s Two Hopping Rovers Successfully Land on Asteroid Ryugu
This spectacular photo shows the view from asteroid Ryugu from the Minerva-II1A rover during a hop after it successfully landed on Sept. 21, 2018. The probe is one of two that landed on Ryugu from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft. It’s the first time two mobile rovers landed on an asteroid.
Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The suspense is over: Two tiny hopping robots have successfully landed on an asteroid called Ryugu — and they’ve even sent back some wild postcards from their new home.

The tiny rovers are part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 asteroid sample-return mission. Engineers with the agency deployed the robots early Friday (Sept. 21), but JAXA waited until today (Sept. 22) to confirm the operation was successful and both rovers made the landing safely.

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HAYABUSA2@JAXA
@haya2e_jaxa
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

8:47 AM – Sep 22, 2018
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The rovers are part of the MINERVA-II1 program, and are designed to hop along the asteroid’s surface, taking photographs and gathering data. In fact, one of the initial images sent home by the hoppers is awfully blurry, since the robot snapped it while still on the go.

In order to complete the deployment, the main spacecraft of the Hayabusa2 mission lowered itself carefully down toward the surface until it was just 180 feet (55 meters) up. After the rovers were on their way, the spacecraft raised itself back up to its typical altitude of about 12.5 miles above the asteroid’s surface (20 kilometers).

Hayabusa2 is scheduled to deploy a larger rover called MASCOT in October and another tiny hopper next year.


Motion-blurred images of HIGH-ENERGY SPACE ROCK HOPPIN’ at the link.