Japan’s MINERVA-II1 Robot Rovers Land On Asteroid Ryugu

The pair of rovers will hop around the surface of asteroid Ryugu and send back images and temperature readings of the asteroid to Earth.

AsianScientist (Sep. 27, 2018) – The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully landed two robot rovers on the surface of asteroid Ryugu. Announcing the landing on Twitter on September 22, 2018, JAXA scientists tweeted that both rovers were in good condition and were transmitting photos and data.

Named MINERVA-II1 (MIcro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid, the second generation), the pair of rovers were launched from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft after a 300-million-kilometer journey from Earth. The Ryugu asteroid is only 900 meters in size, underscoring the precision of the maneuver—the equivalent of hitting a six-centimeter target in Brazil from Japan.

The two rovers are hexagonal in shape, each with a diameter of 18 centimeters and a height of seven centimeters. Each weighs approximately 1.1 kilograms. Equipped with cameras and temperature sensors, their mission is to map the surface of Ryugu and send data back to the Hayabusa2, which will relay the information back to Earth.

To move around the asteroid, the rovers rely on a hopping mechanism rather than wheels or tracks. This is due to the extremely weak gravity on Ryugu—wheels and tracks would lift off the surface of the asteroid the moment the rovers attempted to move, preventing further mobility. With the hopping mechanism, the rovers will be suspended above the surface for less than 15 minutes before landing on another spot roughly 15 meters away.

A third rover, the MINERVA-II2 is scheduled to land on Ryugu next year. Once the rovers have mapped Ryugu, and after the Hayabusa2 obtains samples from the asteroid, the Hayabusa2 will depart Ryugu and return to Earth by 2020.


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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: JAXA.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Jeremy received his PhD from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he studied the role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer progression.

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