Japanese spacecraft drops two rovers onto asteroid surface in first mission of its kind

A Japanese spacecraft has dropped two small rovers onto the surface of an asteroid zooming through space. If they land safely, the unmanned Hayabusa-2 would be the first spacecraft to ever successfully place robotic rovers onto a space rock. Japan's space agency (JAXA) hopes that the mission will provide clues about the origin of the solar system. The agency is expecting to receive data from the rovers at some point on Saturday confirming whether or not the mission has been a success. Hayabusa-2 first arrived near the asteroid, known as Ryugu and situated 280 million km (170 million miles) from Earth, in June.