Why Japan is landing hopping robots on an asteroid
Japan has landed on an asteroid but it won’t be the last.
These two rovers are just the first of four that Japan aims to land on Ryugu.
The other two rovers are scheduled to land within the next year.
In the process, Japan hopes to collect and return a sample of Ryugu to Earth.
So that scientists can study it in more detail, looking for traces of water and organic material.
If it turns out that asteroids like Ryugu contain similar material that we see on Earth it would be strong evidence for the idea that life on Earth first came from an asteroids billions of years ago.
Business Insider