Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2018

7 SMALL BODIES the scientific load charged with studying the asteroid are. Hayabusa2 is the size of a large fridge (1×1.6×1.25 m), weighs just over 600 kg, and is at the same time a probe with its own instruments and also it- self a cargo vessel carrying some independ- ent mini-probes. Among the scientific in- struments on board Hayabusa2, there are some cameras (Optical Navigation Camera, Near-Infrared Camera, Thermal-Infrared Camera) and some devices for sampling the surface of Ryugu (Sampling device (SMP), Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI), Deployable Camera). During the whole forward jour- ney, four rovers (Rover-1A, Rover-1B, MAS- COT and Rover-2) have been holding onto Hayabusa2. Their task includes exploring the surface of the asteroid and gathering information on the environment. Rover-1A T he people behind the Naval Operations. From the left in the front row, we see Tsuda, Onishi, Oki and Kikuchi, starting from the left in the middle row is Kato, Tani- guchi, Matsuoka, and from the left in the back two is Takeuchi, Miya- hara, Oi, and Ta- kao (Family name only is given with titles omitted). On the side, the Japanese probe Hayabusa2 cast its shadow on as- teroid Ryugu. [JAXA]