Move over Rover, Let JAXA take over!

In the last few hours the japanese space probe HAYABUSA2 has successfully landed two robotic rovers on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. Minerva Rover 1 snapped this colour photo from the surface immediately after touchdown and the animation above shows the close approach of the Hayabusa probe itself, as it drops low to deploy the rovers.

Its another amazing space event, almost akin to the marvellous Curiosity rover descent six short years ago. I for one am looking forward to seeing Minerva's coverage of this strange and remote body.

See the fuller story on the New York Times website here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/25/science/hayabusa-ryugu-photos.html