This week, as we released our most recent book ROBOT PLANET- a story about a robotic rover on Mars, another rover-laden space probe made headlines elsewhere. Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that it has successfully landed its Hayabusa 2 probe on the asteroid known as Ryugu The potato-shaped asteroid is said to be three hundred kilometers away from earth. The Hayabusa 2 is expected to fire an impactor blast into the surface to collect samples before lifting off and returning to Earth in 2020. The probe is said to be equipped with two tiny MINERVA-II rover robots as well as the 10-kilogram French-German observation robot MASCOT that will scan the surface temperatures and measure the magnetic fields. While the mission itself has had issues aligning with Earth, it is now streaming data and by many accounts, a success.
We at American Mishima wish to congratulate the Hayabusa 2 Mission team on their recent achievement. おめでとう ございます!