You ’re looking at a half - scurf model of the European Space Agency ’s suitably adorable - sounding Mascot-2 asteroid lander . Come 2022 , a equipment like this will give us an unprecedented glimpse into what it ’s like on an asteroid .
The space authority ’s plan is for the Mascot-2 microlander to be released from a ballistic capsule telephone AIM in six years meter . The aim is for the small - cube - that - can to be dropped on to Didymoon — a flyspeck 600 - pes asteroid which orbits the larger 3,000 - foot Didymos asteroid .
Mascot-2 will only matter about 30 Egyptian pound , but it ’ll be fit out with low - frequency microwave radar , cameras and thermal tomography systems to make sense of its surroundings . Data will be beamed to the AIM mothership , then back to Earth for analysis .
The team behind the craft has clearly learned from the recent Rosetta mission , which see theasteroid lander Philae descend to an unseasonable end . If Mascot-2 land somewhere gloomy , it will use a sprung “ mobility chemical mechanism ” to skip to a new position , so that it can apply its solar control board to create much - necessitate electricity .
It ’s hoped that the hardware will enter information for at least several weeks , if all go to plan .
[ ESA ]
blank space
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
