Two small rovers have been landed by a Japanese space exploration mission on an asteroid on 21 September. Now those rovers have sent back their first snapshots.
The mission was launched in December 2014 and will return to Earth with its samples in 2020, according to the space agency.
15-frame clip along with new photographs have been released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) days after the unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa2 deployed the rovers on to the asteroid’s surface after a three-and-a-half year journey.
According to Jaxa, it is the world’s first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface. By this mission scientists believe includes significant amounts of carbon and water as well as metals. Scientists hope studying these asteroids will shed light on the early history of Earth as a planet, when water and carbon first interacted.
The on going mission will keep up with a first-of-its kind experiment: The probe will release an impactor, most importantly a heavy weight, that will create an artificial crater on Ryugu. Then it will land in the crater to take samples from below the asteroid’s surface, which it will be back to Earth for scientists to research.
> Shiuly Rina
