The video was filmed by mini-robots that separated from the Japanese space station Hayabusa-2.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) released a video filmed by the Rover-1A and Rover-1B mini-robots, which successfully landed on the surface of the Ryugu asteroid.
A shot from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu: rocky here.
The robots arrived aboard the Japanese interplanetary automatic station Hayabusa-2. They reached the asteroid back in June 2018. But they were on its surface only the other day. The robots were delivered by the MINERVA-II1 descent vehicle - a kind of drop-down case, from which the babies jumped out on September 21, 2018. It happened about 280 million kilometers from the Earth.
The shadow of the MINERVA-II1 descent vehicle: photographed by myself, approaching the surface of Ryugu.
Lander MINERVA-II1.
Let me remind you that Rover-1A and Rover-1B are kilogram tablets with a diameter of 18 centimeters and a height of 7 centimeters. They have no wheels. The tablets are equipped with legs. With their help, they will move along the surface of the asteroid - move with careful jumps. In order not to fly into space.
The asteroid Ryugu looks like a dice.
Promotional video:
Having landed on the asteroid, the robots immediately photographed the surroundings. Pictures - three pieces - JAXA released the day before. Now a video has appeared - the first ever video from the surface of an asteroid.
It is believed that asteroids are the remnants of the building material from which the planets of the solar system were formed. Including the Earth. Scientists would like to know what it - this so-called protomaterial - is, what substances it contains. Therefore, they are interested in asteroids - they take pictures, analyze, collect data bit by bit.
The ultimate goal of the current Japanese mission is to deliver asteroid soil samples to Earth. The departure of the station on the return journey is scheduled for December 2019. Arrival home is expected in December 2020.
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The Hayabusa-2 station was launched on December 3, 2014. Getting to Ryugu, she covered more than 3 billion kilometers.
Ryugu, aka 1999 JU3, is a near-Earth asteroid. It revolves around the Sun, making one revolution in 474 days. The trajectory is elongated - it crosses the orbits of the Earth and Mars.
The diameter of the asteroid is approximately 900 meters.
Ryugu was opened on May 10, 1999. It got its name in 2015. He was inspired by a Japanese tale about a fisherman who visited the magical underwater Ryugu Palace. There I met the daughter of the lord of the deep sea. She gave the guest a box with something mysterious. The scientists who worked on the Hayabusa-2 project decided that the plot of the tale and the essence of the mission are very similar. After all, the station also has to deliver something like a box - a container with soil of unknown composition.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY