Two small robotic explorers were released Friday from Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 toward an asteroid named Ryugu roughly 300 million kilometers from Earth.
The rovers are expected to land on the asteroid to capture images and measure surface temperatures ahead of the main explorer's touchdown, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.
The attempt follows a failed landing of an explorer robot 13 years ago when the Japanese space agency surveyed the Itokawa asteroid.
(Photo suppied by JAXA)
The rovers are two of three robotic explorers that make up the Minerva II robot vehicle installed on Hayabusa2. Each hexadecagon column-shaped robotic explorer measures 18 centimeters in diameter, 7 cm in height and weighs 1 kilogram.
The robots will hop along the surface of the asteroid because the low gravity -- about one-80,000th of that on Earth -- makes rolling difficult.
The last of the three robotic explorers will be released next year.
Hayabusa2 -- hayabusa means peregrine falcon in Japanese -- reached its destination near the asteroid in June after traveling 3.2 billion km in a more than three-year journey. Its research could provide new insights into the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life, according to JAXA.
