This Week In Space: Japan's asteroid success, Delta II goes home, and another weird space drive
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BBC: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sends probes to the surface of asteroid Ryugu On Friday, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe moved closer to the asteroid Ryugu and released two small probes to the surface. The miniscule gravity of the 1 kilometer asteroid means that the twThis Week In Space: Japan's asteroid success, Delta II goes home, and another weird space drive
BBC: Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sends probes to the surface of asteroid Ryugu On Friday, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe moved closer to the asteroid Ryugu and released two small probes to the surface. The miniscule gravity of the 1 kilometer asteroid means that the two “rovers” won’t roll across the surface, but will “hop” from place to place on stubby legs. The landers are now taking measurements and images of the surface while the main probe snaps shots from only a few hundred meters above. And the mission is far from over. Next week, Hayabusa will release another lander, called “Mascot” — a joint French and German device. And then three weeks later Hayabusa itself slowly land, collect samples, and lift off again. It will return these samples to Earth. Japan previously visited a different asteroid with the original Hayabusa probe, but this is the first any nation has managed to land rovers onto an asteroid. This is really a showcase mission — four different vehicles, conducting four landings on an asteroid, maneuvering around in very low gravity, and sample return. So far, Hayabusa 2 has been an amazing success. The probe will hang around Ryugu after collect samples until December, then it will begin the flight back to Earth. Samples should be delivered in 2020. Hayabusa hovering just 60 meters above Ryugu, the shadow of the probe is visible JAXA simulation of the two rovers landing on Ryugu Read more