Japan space rovers lowered to asteroid to collect data
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September 21, 2018
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese spacecraft released two small rovers on an asteroid on Friday in a mission that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system.
The Japan Space Exploration Agency said the two Minerva-II-1 rovers were lowered from the unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa2 to the asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft arrived near the asteroid, about 280 million kilometers (170 million miles) from Earth, in June.
JAXA said confirmation of the robots' safe touchdown has to wait until it receives data from them on Saturday.
Hayabusa2 approached as close as 55 meters (180 feet) to the asteroid to lo...
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