Japan is about to drop the last robot on the asteroid

The landing robot will land on the asteroid Ryugu and collect samples to help scientists learn about the early solar system.

Marking device deployed.(Photo: Guardian).

MINERVA-II2 Rover-2 , the last landing robot on Hayabusa 2 will land on the asteroid Ryugu surface in October. After that, the spacecraft will leave the asteroid and begin the journey back to Earth . The ship will carry an enclosed space containing samples collected from asteroids, fly through the Earth's atmosphere and land with an umbrella in Australia in December 2020.

On September 17, the Hayabusa 2 deployed two target markers around Ryugu from a height of 1 km. With a very small gravitational force from the asteroid, the marking devices are falling freely onto the celestial surface. As expected, they will land the slowest at the beginning of this week.

The 10cm wide marking device is covered with highly reflective material that allows the spacecraft to easily see. The Hayabusa 2 flew up 20 km from the asteroid. By tracking the falling process of the marking device, scientists can accurately calculate the gravitational field emitted by the asteroid and learn its internal structure.

The Hayabusa 2 ship approached Ryugu on June 27, 2018. The ship dropped three small robots onto the celestial surface and made two landings to collect specimens.

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2. Japanese expedition ship collecting rock samples on the asteroid Ryugu