This artist’s illustration depicts the Minerva rovers on the asteroid surface.
JAXA
What makes a movie great? Dialogue, plot, settings, drama. Or you can just shoot a short on an asteroid.
Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission successfully deployed two Minerva robotic rovers to the surface of an asteroid named Ryugu over the weekend. Japan’s space agency JAXA sent back pictures, but now we have a 15-frame-long movie courtesy of Rover-1B.
Rover-1B succeeded in shooting a movie on Ryugu’s surface! The movie has 15 frames captured on September 23, 2018 from 10:34 – 11:48 JST. Enjoy ‘standing’ on the surface of this asteroid! [6/6] pic.twitter.com/57avmjvdVa
— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 27, 2018
“Enjoy ‘standing’ on the surface of this asteroid!” JAXA wrote in a Thursday tweet.
Director J.J. Abrams will be envious of the movie’s impressive sun-lit lens flare, which rotates across the scene. The asteroid’s rocky surface is visible in the bottom half of the frame.
JAXA released a host of images from the asteroid over the last few days, including the highest-resolution Ryugu surface image yet. The views show an inhospitable-looking environment covered in rocks and boulders.
Hayabusa 2 arrived at its asteroid target in June. This is a sequel to the original Hayabusa mission, which returned a sample of an asteroid back to Earth in 2010.
Hayabusa 2 hopes to pull off the same feat as the original mission. If all goes as planned, it will bring back a bit of Ryugu in late 2020.