Hayabusa-2 drops two rovers into the asteroid surface of Ryugu

Japan's asteroid explorer Hayabusa 2 - the landing point of Ryugu near the Earth and dropped a probe "MINERVA-II 1".

According to JAXA "MINERVA - II 1" contains two Rovers "Rover - 1 A" and "Rover - 1 B", one in diameter in the shape of a regular hexagonal prism with a diameter of 18 cm and a height of 7 cm, Both are about 1.1 kg.

There are 4 cameras in 'Rover-1A' and 3 cameras in 'Rover-1 B', taking pictures on the surface of Ryugu. A part of the thorn out from the aircraft is a thermometer, and in addition are carries, a light sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope etc. It is said that data will be transmitted to the earth via Hayabusa 2.

MINERVA - II 1 A moves while bouncing with a hopping mechanism. While autonomously judging the situation by itself, it jumps on the reaction of internal motor rotation. This technique was adopted because the gravity of RYUGU is extremely small, and the aircraft floats as soon as it starts to move in wheels and caterpillars.

In Hayabusa 2, another spacecraft "MINERVA - II 2" is also loaded. This will be dropped next year, Hayabusa 2 of the mothership is going to try touchdown several times next year.

Rover flying with each other.

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