Space probes land on asteroid

ROBOT rovers have landed on the surface of an asteroid for the first time.

The Japan Space Exploration Agency said two Minerva-II-1 rovers have sent photos and data from 3,300ft-wide Ryugu after being lowered from unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa-2 last week.

Hayabusa-2 will attempt three landings to collect samples from the space rock, which is more than 170million miles from Earth, in the hope of providing clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet.

The spacecraft, which launched in 2014, is set to return to Earth in late 2020.