Tag: Hayabusa 2
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Descent begins for European asteroid lander
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft approaching asteroid Ryugu. Credit: DLR A German-built landing probe the size of a microwave oven carrying a camera and a suite of scientific instruments was closing in on asteroid Ryugu Tuesday, riding aboard Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to join two other robots deployed to the asteroid’s surface last…
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Live coverage: MASCOT lander begins exploring asteroid Ryugu
Live coverage of the final descent and landing of MASCOT, a miniature robot developed in Germany and France carried aboard Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft exploring asteroid Ryugu. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Check this page for live updates during MASCOT’s missing at Ryugu.
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Check out close-up views of asteroid (plus a movie) from Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission
This image of the asteroid Ryugo was captured by the Hayabusa 2 probe’s ONC-T camera at an altitude of about 64 meters (210 feet). Image was taken on Sept. 21. A large boulder is at bottom left, along with a scale bar indicating the length of 1 meter. (Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University,…
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Japanese robots land on asteroid, send back pictures
The MINERVA-II-1A rover captured this blurred image Saturday at 0244 GMT (10:44 p.m. EDT Friday) showing asteroid Ryugu as the robot hopped across its surface. The bright feature on the right side of the image was caused by sunlight. Credit: JAXA A pair of tiny automated robots touched down on asteroid Ryugu on Friday after…
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Japanese mini-rovers send back their first images as they hop around an asteroid
An image from the Hayabusa 2 mission’s Rover-1A shows the surface of the asteroid Ryugu at left. The bright white region is due to sunlight. The image, captured at about 11:44 a.m. JST Sept. 22 (7:44 p.m. PT Sept. 21), is blurry because it was taken while the mini-rover was in the middle of a hop…
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Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe drops off rovers at an asteroid and snaps a shadowy selfie
Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe takes a picture of the asteroid Ryugu from a distance of about 135 meters (440 feet) with its own shadow seen on the surface. (JAXA Photo) Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe began the climactic phase of its mission overnight by sending out its first two rovers as it hovered less than 200…
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Hayabusa 2 team sets dates for asteroid landings
Hayabusa 2’s optical navigation camera captured this view of asteroid Ryugu from a distance of 6 kilometers (4 miles) on July 20. Credit: JAXA Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is preparing to release three hopping robots to land on asteroid Ryugu in the coming month, with tiny instruments scientists hope will explore the airless world’s boulder-strewn…
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Hayabusa 2 probe gets a closer look at asteroid amid landing preps
A wide-angle optical navigation camera on the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft captured this view of asteroid Ryugu on Aug. 6 as the spacecraft approached to a distance of less than 2,800 feet (851 meters) from the object. Credit: JAXA, University Tokyo, Koichi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu,…
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Japanese spacecraft reaches asteroid after three-and-a-half-year journey
Asteroid Ryugu imaged by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft June 26 at a range of 13 miles (22 kilometers) Wednesday. Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST Japan’s robotic Hayabusa 2 spacecraft arrived Wednesday at asteroid Ryugu, a diamond-shaped object more than a half-mile…
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Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe closes in on asteroid Ryugu – and captures close-ups
A series of pictures from Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe shows views of the asteroid Ryugu during the spacecraft’s approach. The closest views were captured from a distance of about 100 kilometers (62 miles), and reveal craters and boulders on the asteroid’s turning surface. (JAXA Photos) Look! Up in the sky! It’s a dumpling … It’s…