According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Rover mission is at its most interesting stage. This is the world's first already successful mission, according to which robots move along the surface of an asteroid and directly study it.
The other day, the robots successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu, and the day before, they successfully separated from the Hayabusa 2 probe, which delivered them into orbit of the space body.
“Both devices are fully operational and have already begun to study the surface of Ryugu,” JAXA officials said.
Taking into account the insignificant level of gravity on the asteroid, the vehicles will move along the surface using jumps, rising to a height of 15 meters for 15 minutes, which will allow the physical properties of the asteroid to be investigated.
“I am very proud that we have created a new method for exploring small celestial bodies in space,” said Yuichi Tsuda, JAXA project manager.
Next month, Hayabusa 2 will deploy a kind of 'striker' mechanism that will shoot at the surface of a two-kilometer asteroid, and a special charge will explode above its surface to form a crater. It is planned that from this crater the probe will collect 'new' materials that are not subject to millennia of exposure to cosmic winds and radiation.
Scientists are confident that the analysis of these materials will help answer many fundamental questions about life and the Universe, including one of the main ones – could cosmic bodies bring life to Earth?
