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The two commands that crossed and left MINERVA drifting: did they arrive in time?
Japan's asteroid rover MINERVA drifts into an unexpected solar orbit after two commands arrive out of order. Can engineers recover the mission?
The two commands that crossed and left MINERVA drifting: did they arrive in time?
This episode explores the story of MINERVA, a small asteroid rover designed to explore asteroid Itokawa. It details the ambitious mission, the rover's unique design, and the critical error that sent it off course.
Person: MINERVA
Date: November 12, 2005
Location: Asteroid Itokawa
Event: Rover deployment failure
- The MINERVA rover was a twelve-centimeter machine, the…
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