Touchdown! Japan space probe lands new robot on asteroid Ryugu

A Japanese probe successfully landed a new observation robot on an asteroid today as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, launched from the Hayabusa2 probe and landed safely on Ryugu, which is classed as a potentially hazardous asteroid. MASCOT is expected to collect a wide range of data on the asteroid which is some 300 million kilometres (190 million miles) from Earth. MASCOT's launch comes 10 days after the Hayabusa2 dropped a pair of MINERVA-II micro-rovers on the Ryugu asteroid. It was the first time that moving, robotic observation devices have been successfully landed on an asteroid.