This Japanese robot has been taking photos as it rides an asteroid
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its Hayabusa2 probe back in 2014. Image: REUTERS/David Gray
Touchdown
Japan’s space agency workers can now breathe easy. The pair of robots they sent hurtling toward the surface of an asteroid on Friday have landed as hoped and are already sending back images of their strange new home.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its Hayabusa2 probe back in 2014, and the craft is now orbiting Ryugu, an asteroid roughly 289 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth.
On Saturday, the agency posted that the two exploratory robots Hayabusa2 sent toward Ryugu on Friday are “in good condition” and moving freely on the asteroid’s surface. It also posted new images that the bots sent back.
Bounce House
The bots will now bounce around the asteroid as long as their solar-powered motors allow, taking photos like the ones below and gathering valuable temperature readings that could help us understand the history of our solar system and prepare for the future of asteroid mining.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
Space
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Emerging TechnologiesSee all
Filipe Beato and Jamie Saunders
November 21, 2024
