Meet Ryugu: Close Up And Personal

Japan’s space agency (Jaxa) has released incredible images from its robot rovers of the asteroid Ryugu. I know that I go all squealy over NASA and space pictures, but this is amazing.  It is difficult to get one’s mind around the fact that we are looking at the surface of an asteroid that has been moving through space since before the advent of mankind.

The rovers were released by the “mothership”, Hayabusa 2 after a three-and-a-half-year journey.  The rovers actually hop in the low gravity to get around.

Image copyright JAXA

Image copyright JAXA

The asteroid is 900m wide and is believed to have been around since the early stages of the galaxy.