日本在遥远的小行星上部署了跳跃机器人

Japan Deploys¹ Jumping Robots on Distant Asteroid²

Two small Japanese robots landed on a distant asteroid last weekend.

The robots took small jumps, making it the first time that any device from our planet has moved on the surface of an asteroid.

The two machines, called rovers, landed on the asteroid Ryugu on September 21. The Japan Space Exploration Agency says they were lowered to the surface by an unmanned spacecraft called the Hayabusa2.

Asteroids³ are small, rocky objects orbiting around the Sun. They sometimes have been described as minor⁴ planets.

The Japanese spacecraft first arrived at Ryugu last June. It flew as close as 55 meters to the asteroid before it released the rovers. Hayabusa2 then rose back up to a waiting position about 20 kilometers above the surface.

The next day, Japan’s space agency, known as JAXA, released some pictures the rovers had sent back from the landing area. One shows the dark stone of Ryugu, with a bright line of sunlight lighting⁵ up the asteroid’s surface.

“I cannot find words to express how happy I am,” said JAXA project manager Yuichi Tsuda in a statement after the robots arrived.

The rovers are named MINERVA-II 1a and 1b. They are about the size of a can used to hold cookies. Their movements are powered by solar energy from the sun. The low gravity levels on the asteroid make rolling difficult, so the rovers move by taking jumps, up to 15 meters at a time.

They will continue moving across the surface, taking pictures and collecting information about temperature. The Japanese space agency says they will keep jumping as long as their solar equipment and power last.

A larger rover and lander will be released onto the surface from Hayabusa2 in the coming months.

Why Asteroids?

You may be wondering why send a spacecraft millions of kilometers away to land on an ancient piece of rock traveling through space? Scientists believe that asteroids may provide information about the earliest days of our solar system, dating back some 4 billion years.

Ryugu orbits the Sun between Earth and Mars, and is a C-type asteroid—the most common type of asteroid in our solar system. Scientists believe some asteroids may contain organic matter and water. Ryugu may give researchers a window to see all the way back to the beginning of life itself.

JAXA hopes to find out just what Ryugu is made up of by collecting material from the asteroid’s surface and bringing them home to be studied. Hyabusa2 is set to try three brief landings on Ryugu to collect rock samples. The first attempt is expected to be in October.

Later this week, the spacecraft is set to release another lander onto the asteroid. The device is a project of the German and French space agencies. Known as MASCOT⁶, it will be carrying four observation devices. The spacecraft will release a larger rover, called Minerva-II-2, in 2019.

Hyabusa2 will stay at Ryugu until late next year. Then it will fly back to Earth with the asteroid samples. JAXA expects the spacecraft to return home by 2020.

Scientists will study the samples to understand more about how planets were formed around the Sun in the early days of our solar system.

In time, these samples will be compared to ones the American space agency NASA hopes to get from the asteroid Bennu. NASA’s spacecraft was launched two years ago. It is expected to reach Bennu in early December.

NASA’s spacecraft will then take samples from the asteroid in 2020, and three years later they will return to Earth for scientists to study.

I’m Anne Ball.

Words in This Story

asteroid – n. any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun

cookie – n. a sweet baked food that is usually small, flat, and round and is made from flour and sugar

organic – adj. of, relating to, or obtained from living things

sample – n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from

1 deploys   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的第三人称单数 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• It then deploys "decoy" programs designed to attract the virus. 然后，它释放“诱饵”去吸引病毒。
• But when that doesn't work, he deploys his secret defense mechanism. 但没有效果，它要施展绝密自卫武器了。

2 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

3 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

6 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。