Author Topic: Japanese Probe Drops Tiny Hopping Robots Toward Big Asteroid Ryugu  (Read 1133 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline kidd

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 894
Japanese Probe Drops Tiny Hopping Robots Toward Big Asteroid Ryugu
« on: September 21, 2018, 02:36:21 pm »
https://www.space.com/41898-hayabusa2-deploys-hopping-robots-asteroid-ryugu.html

Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft snapped this photo at about midnight EDT on Sept. 21, 2018, around the time it deployed the two tiny MINERVA-II1 hoppers toward the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. Hayabusa2’s shadow is clearly visible

= = =
Two tiny hopping robots have begun their historic attempt to land on a big asteroid in deep space.

Japan's Hayabusa2 probe, which has been circling the 3,000-foot-wide (900 meters) asteroid Ryugu since late June, deployed two little "rovers" called MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B at 12:06 a.m. EDT (0406 GMT) today (Sept. 21). The event occurred when the mother ship was about 180 feet (55 meters) above Ryugu's pockmarked, boulder-strewn surface, mission team members said.

"The separation of MINERVA-II1 has been confirmed! The state of the spacecraft is normal," JAXA officials announced via Twitter just after the rovers deployed. That confirmation came after an apparently tense descent for Hayabusa2 flight controllers. "In the control room, you can hear the sound of deep breaths around the room," JAXA officials wrote just before the rovers were released. [Japan's Hayabusa2 Asteroid Ryugu Sample-Return Mission in Pictures]

JAXA officials confirmed a clear signal from the MINERVA-II1 rovers after they were deployed, but did lose contact due to asteroid Ryugu's rotation before they could confirm any images from the landing itself.

"This is probably due to the rotation to Ryugu, and MINERVA-II1 is now on the far side of the asteroid," JAXA officials said. "We are currently working to confirm if there are images capturing the MINERVA-II1 landing."

If everything goes according to plan, the 2.4-lb. (1.1 kilograms) robots will soon join a very select club. To date, the only craft to pull off a soft touchdown on an asteroid are NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous-Shoemaker spacecraft, which landed on Eros in 2001, and the original Hayabusa probe, which stayed for a brief spell on the surface of Itokawa in 2005. (Only one mission has ever executed a soft landing on a comet: In November 2014, the European Space Agency's Rosetta orbiter dropped a lander called Philae onto 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.)

MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B are 7 inches wide by 2.8 inches tall (18 by 7 centimeters) and tote a variety of scientific gear, including temperature and optical sensors and a total of seven cameras. Though the Hayabusa2 team calls them rovers, the bantam craft won't roll along like the Mars explorer Curiosity; rather, MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B will hop from place to place on Ryugu's surface, thanks to internal rotating motors.

"Gravity on the surface of Ryugu is very weak, so a rover propelled by normal wheels or crawlers would float upwards as soon as it started to move," mission team members wrote in a MINERVA-II1 description.

"Therefore, this hopping mechanism was adopted for moving across the surface of such small celestial bodies," they added. "The rover is expected to remain in the air for up to 15 minutes after a single hop before landing, and to move up to 15 m [50 feet] horizontally."


An artist's illustration of Hayabusa2's hopping rovers, MINERVA-II1A (back) and MINERVA-II1B (foreground), exploring the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.
 
MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B will perform these exploration leaps autonomously, figuring out for themselves where they should go next, Hayabusa2 team members have said.

This morning's maneuver kicks off an ambitious Ryugu surface-exploration campaign for the $150 million Hayabusa2 mission, which launched in December 2014. In early October, the orbiter will deploy an instrument-packed 22-lb. (10 kg) lander called MASCOT, which was built by the German Aerospace Center in collaboration with the French space agency CNES. And sometime next year, another little hopper, MINERVA-II2, will touch down on Ryugu as well.

The Hayabusa2 mother ship will also spiral down to the asteroid's surface in 2019, snagging samples from a fresh crater it will blast out with a (nonexplosive) impactor. This pristine, previously subsurface material is scheduled to come to Earth in a special return capsule in December 2020.

Scientists in labs around the world will then scrutinize this cosmic dirt and gravel, learning more about the solar system's early days and the role carbon-rich asteroids like Ryugu may have played in delivering water and the chemical building blocks of life to the early Earth, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials have said.

"MINERVA" is short for "Micro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid." The original MINERVA hopper flew aboard JAXA's Hayabusa mission, which arrived in orbit around Itokawa in 2005 and returned a tiny sample of the space rock to Earth in 2010; those previous missions explain the "MINERVA-II" naming system for Hayabusa2. (MINERVA did not succeed in its Itokawa touchdown try more than a decade ago.)

"MASCOT," by the way, stands for "Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout."



Offline thackney

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,267
  • Gender: Male
Re: Japanese Probe Drops Tiny Hopping Robots Toward Big Asteroid Ryugu
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2018, 03:00:38 pm »
I was expecting:

Life is fragile, handle with prayer

Offline Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 25,574
Re: Japanese Probe Drops Tiny Hopping Robots Toward Big Asteroid Ryugu
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2018, 01:09:28 am »
They Made It! Japan's Two Hopping Rovers Successfully Land on Asteroid Ryugu

https://www.space.com/41912-japanese-hopping-rovers-land-on-asteroid.html

 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.


Offline Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 25,574
Re: Japanese Probe Drops Tiny Hopping Robots Toward Big Asteroid Ryugu
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2018, 12:48:00 pm »
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/09/24/stunning-asteroid-photos-captured-by-tiny-rovers-on-space-rocks-surface.html

The two rovers – Rover-1A and Rover-1B, are in good condition and transmitting images and data.

The rovers, each about the size of a cookie can, move by "hopping" up to 49 feet at a time because the extremely weak gravity on the asteroid makes rolling difficult. They can continue jumping as long as their solar panels and power last, JAXA said.

In addition to capturing images, the rovers measure surface temperatures. A larger rover and a lander will also be released from Hayabusa 2 as part of the mission. The mission’s MASCOT lander was developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency (CNES).

Hayabusa 2 is scheduled to attempt three brief touch-and-go landings on the asteroid to collect samples in hopes of providing clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. Since it arrived at Ryugu, scientists have been looking for suitable landing sites on the uneven surface, and its first attempt is expected in October.