Two small Japanese robots landed on a distant asteroid last weekend. The robots took small jumps, making it the first time that any device from our planet has moved on the surface of an asteroid. The two machines, called rovers, landed on the asteroid Ryugu on September 21. The Japan Space Exploration Agency says they were lowered to the surface by an unmanned spacecraft called the Hayabusa2. Asteroids are small, rocky objects orbiting around the Sun. They sometimes have been described as minor planets. The Japanese spacecraft first arrived at Ryugu last June. It flew as close as 55 meters to the asteroid before it released the rovers. Hayabusa2 then rose back up to a waiting position about 20 kilometers above the surface. The next day, Japan’s space agency, known as JAXA, released some pictures the rovers had sent back from the landing area. One shows the dark stone of Ryugu, with a bright line of sunlight lighting up the asteroid’s surface.
Title: Japan Deploys Jumping Robots on Distant Asteroid
Content: <div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/509f63c9-bee5-4c9c-aa91-34536ac2e475_hq.wav' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='Japan Deploys Jumping Robots on Distant Asteroid' data-article-id='3400'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='6979'>Two small Japanese robots landed on a distant asteroid last weekend.</span> <span data-start-time='6979' data-end-time='18979'>The robots took small jumps, making it the first time that any device from our planet has moved on the surface of an asteroid.</span> <span data-start-time='18979' data-end-time='28417'>The two machines, called rovers, landed on the asteroid Ryugu on September 21.</span> <span data-start-time='28417' data-end-time='40958'>The Japan Space Exploration Agency says they were lowered to the surface by an unmanned spacecraft called the Hayabusa2.</span> <span data-start-time='40958' data-end-time='47229'>Asteroids are small, rocky objects orbiting around the Sun.</span> <span data-start-time='47229' data-end-time='51771'>They sometimes have been described as minor planets.</span> <span data-start-time='51771' data-end-time='58125'>The Japanese spacecraft first arrived at Ryugu last June.</span> <span data-start-time='58125' data-end-time='66354'>It flew as close as 55 meters to the asteroid before it released the rovers.</span> <span data-start-time='66354' data-end-time='76583'>Hayabusa2 then rose back up to a waiting position about 20 kilometers above the surface.</span> <span data-start-time='76583' data-end-time='87813'>The next day, Japan’s space agency, known as JAXA, released some pictures the rovers had sent back from the landing area.</span> <span data-start-time='87813' data-end-time='97646'>One shows the dark stone of Ryugu, with a bright line of sunlight lighting up the asteroid’s surface.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/D51BADCA-C875-4DFF-B2EB-D441BDC3ACEF_w1023_r1_s.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=11611 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/what_is_an_asteroid.wav'>What is an asteroid?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/any_one_of_thousands_of_small_planets_that_circle_around_the_sun.wav'><span>any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/an_injury_or_illness.wav'><span>an injury or illness</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/a_type_of_exercise.wav'><span>a type of exercise</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/a_piece_of_equipment_designed_to_carry_things_on_ones_back.wav'><span>a piece of equipment designed to carry things on ones back</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=11612 data-hint-location='47229' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/asteroids_have_sometimes_been_described_as_what.wav'>Asteroids have sometimes been described as what?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='minor planets'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/minor_planets.wav'><span>minor planets</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/smooth_and_polished.wav'><span>smooth and polished</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/warm_and_sunny.wav'><span>warm and sunny</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/small_stars.wav'><span>small stars</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=11613 data-hint-location='6979' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/the_robots_took_small__blank__making_it_the_first_time_that_any_device_from_our_planet_has_moved_on_the_surface_of_an_asteroid.wav'>The robots took small <span class='blank'>jumps</span>, making it the first time that any device from our planet has moved on the surface of an asteroid.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='jumps'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/jumps.wav'><span>jumps</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/steps.wav'><span>steps</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/slides.wav'><span>slides</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2835/rolls.wav'><span>rolls</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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