Japan lands robot rovers on asteroid, creates history
New Delhi : The esteemed space agency of Japan, JAXA claims that it has created historyby successfully landing two unmanned rovers on an asteroid. The launch tool place on September 22 and till now, the rovers are in good condition, transmitting data to the space agency.
After the rovers separated from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft and landed on the asteroid Ryugu, JAXA, in a statement, said that the two rovers are in good condition and are transmitting images and data, CNN reported.
Dubbed as MINERVA-II1, the rovers are considered as world's first mobile exploration robot to land on the surface of an asteroid. The space agency and the entire country is overwhelmed with the success of the project. Takashi Kubota, a spokesman for the space agency, said that he felt awed by the achievement and that it is a real charm of deep space exploration.
Experts say that asteroids are home to rich information about the formation of the solar system billions of years ago. Scientists at JAXA claims that a kilometer-wide diamond-shaped space rock is rich in water and organic materials that would allow scientists to clarify interactions between the building blocks of Earth and the evolution of its oceans and life, thereby developing solar system science.
A source close to the agency confirmed that the rovers have been fitted with seven cameras to take stereo images of the asteroid's surface. Also, the devices are equipped with temperature gauges, optical sensors, an accelerometer and a set of gyroscopes.
