The Nipponese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 has safely land yet another investigation on the surface of an asteroid , the thirdin about 10 day .
This lander is called the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout ( MASCOT ) , and was developed by the German Space Center ( DLR ) . It was eject from Hayabusa-2 yesterday , and touch down on the asteroid Ryugu , 280 million kilometers ( 175 million miles ) from Earth , in the beginning today .
“ And then I find myself in a place like no office on Earth . A land full of wonder , mystery and danger ! ” the probe ’s team wrote on Twitter . “ I landed on asteroid Ryugu ! ”
MASCOT , like the MINERVA - II1 probes that preceded it , is contrive to hop across the surface of Ryugu to take measurement in different locations . It will do this bymoving an armwith a motor , the momentum of which will get MASCOT to jump in the crushed - gravity environment of the asteroid .
The roamer is a rigid box shape , assess about 30 centimeters ( 12 inch ) long on its longest side and weigh about 10 kilograms ( 22 pounds ) . It is powered by a non - rechargeable assault and battery , so its life will be short - lived – it will collect measurements for just 16 hour .
It will hop just once on the mission , unlike the MINERVA - II1 wanderer , which can move multiple times and are solar powered to engage longer on the surface . After land the team tell MASCOT had already taken 20 image with an onboard television camera , which will be transmitted back to Hayabusa-2 and sent back to Earth in a couple of Day .
" The tv camera work absolutely , " Ralf Jaumann , DLR terrestrial scientist and scientific director of the camera instrument , said in astatement . " The squad ’s first figure of the camera are therefore secure . "
MASCOT hasthree other instrumentson dining table , which will be used to study the asteroid . These are an infrared microscope to study the basis , a gaussmeter to hunt for signs of a magnetic field , and a radiometer to measure the surface temperature .
The end of this delegation , and the overall Hayabusa-2 mission , is to take more about theorigins of our Solar System . By studying Ryugu , it ’s hoped we can get a full hold on how objects like this populated the other Solar System .
MASCOT has another role to act in this , too . By studying the surface , it will help mission scientists decide where to deploy an impactor from Hayabusa-2 , create an hokey volcanic crater . Next yr , the space vehicle will pounce down and gather material from this crater , returning it to Earth along with other samples in 2020 .
Hayabusa-2 has one more lander to send to the surface , dubbed Rover 2 , which be deployed in 2019 . This a la mode landing of MASCOT is another huge accomplishment for the mission , but there are plenty more exciting moments to come .
