Astronomy / Space Tiny German Spacecraft Poised for Hopping Landing on Asteroid Ryugu

Manticore

Manticore
A tiny German asteroid lander is expected to touch down on its target late Tuesday, Oct. 2 (EDT). The craft is on a quest to send back data about the mysterious Ryugu's surface, whose precise composition continues to elude investigators more than three months after the Japanese Hayabusa2, which will deliver MASCOT to the surface, arrived at the space rock.
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https://www.space.com/41996-mascot-prepares-for-asteroid-landing.html
 

Jonny Shiloh

Jonny Shiloh
Para Handy said:
Just thought I'd point out that it is a joint German-French lander - it is currently on the way down here is a pic:

https://mobile.twitter.com/MASCOT2018/status/1047406828617965568/photo/1

and there is a livestream at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axqedwOW-jo
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I think it may already actually have landed... at least, according to the Beeb

Japan's space agency (Jaxa) has put another lander on the surface of asteroid 162173, or Ryugu.

The Hayabusa-2 probe ejected the German-French Mascot "rover" on Wednesday for its 20-minute journey down to the space rock.

Contact was confirmed shortly after 03:58 CEST (01:58 GMT; 02:58 BST).
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EDIT: Nice animation about the little fella

[video=youtube;8H4aZX_8hMA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4aZX_8hMA[/video]
 
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