Device lands on asteroid: JAXA

Tokyo, Oct. 5: A German- French observation device safely landed on an asteroid after a Japanese spacecraft released it as part of a research effort that could find clues about the origin of the solar system, Japanese space officials said.

The Japan Space Exploration Agency said the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, was released from the unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa2 and successfully landed on the asteroid Ryugu.

The spacecraft went as close as about 50 meters ( 160 feet) to the asteroid’s surface to release the boxshaped lander. Hayabusa2 has been stationed near the asteroid since June after travelling 280 million kilometres ( 170 million miles) from Earth.

About an hour after the separation, the space agency, known as JAXA, said it had received signals from MASCOT, an indication of its safe landing. JAXA’s Hayabusa project manager, Yuichi Tsuda, confirmed the landing at a news conference.

JAXA collaborated with the German Aerospace Center and France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales in the MASCOT project. The lander’s deployment follows the successful landing last month of two MINERVA- II1 observation rovers that have transmitted a series of images showing the asteroid’s rocky surface.

Hayabusa2 dropped MASCOT on the opposite hemisphere from the rovers so they don’t interfere with each others.