Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Japan's Hayabusa2 successfully deploys two rovers on the surface of an asteroidIt's just like the movie Armageddon, but without the apocalypse scenario. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has reason to celebrate after successfully deploying a pair of robots on the surface of an asteroid. The mission, which played out on Friday, aims to gather photos and data from the asteroid called Ryugu. SEE ALSO: Astronaut captures photos of ominous-looking Hurricane Florence from space The mission's success — marking the end of a four-year journey — was confirmed in a tweet on Saturday from JAXA's account for the Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer. 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 — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018 A flood of imagery followed as the two hopping rovers — yes, they get around by hopping — set about their important task.  This is a picture from MINERVA-II1. The color photo was captured by Rover-1A on September 21 around 13:08 JST, immediately after separation from the spacecraft. Hayabusa2 is top and Ryugu's surface is below. The image is blurred because the rover is spinning. #asteroidlanding pic.twitter.com/CeeI5ZjgmM — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018 Photo taken by Rover-1B on Sept 21 at ~13:07 JST. It was captured just after separation from the spacecraft. Ryugu's surface is in the lower right. The misty top left region is due to the reflection of sunlight. 1B seems to rotate slowly after separation, minimising image blur. pic.twitter.com/P71gsC9VNI — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018 This dynamic photo was captured by Rover-1A on September 22 at around 11:44 JST. It was taken on Ryugu's surface during a hop. The left-half is the surface of Ryugu, while the white region on the right is due to sunlight. (Hayabusa2 Project) pic.twitter.com/IQLsFd4gJu — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 22, 2018 You can keep up with the status of Hayabusa2's mission on JAXA's English-language website right here. There's also a post from JAXA discussing the mission here. As JAXA notes, MINERVA-II1 "is the world’s first rover (mobile exploration robot) to land on the surface of an asteroid. This is also the first time for autonomous movement and picture capture on an asteroid surface." WATCH: Elon Musk just unveiled images of SpaceX's ship that he hopes will be key to bringing people to Mars




from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2pDbOf3

Related Posts:

  • LATEST TOP STORIESPresident Trump's former chief strategist Stephen Bannon, who was arrested over the summer for alleged fraud, has lost his lawyer after suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded.La… Read More
  • LATEST TOP STORIESThe parties for President-elect Joe Biden came as the U.S. was averaging more than 120,000 new COVID-19 cases a day from MarketWatch.com - Top Stories https://ift.tt/3pf23Ry … Read More
  • LATEST TOP STORIESThe president has vowed to bring “a lot of litigation," and that means raising a lot of money from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3k7NknG … Read More
  • LATEST TOP STORIESThe election of vice-president Kamala Harris prompted a wave on congratulations over the weekend, including from an old elementary school classmate in B.C. from CTVNews.ca - Top Stories - Public RSS https://ift.tt/2U6wCut … Read More
  • LATEST TOP STORIESB.C. health officials announced a record-breaking 589 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, as well as two more deaths from the disease. from CTVNews.ca - Top Stories - Public RSS https://ift.tt/3lcF7QM … Read More

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Popular Posts

FOLLOW BY EMAIL

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner