European asteroid lander released from Hayabusa2 touches down

A robotic explorer released from Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 landed safely Wednesday on the Ryugu asteroid, about 300 million kilometers from Earth, for a mission that may provide new insights into the origin of life, Japan's space agency said.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, a small box-shaped lander developed by the German and French space agencies and known as Mascot, started its final descent from 51 meters above the asteroid after it separated from Hayabusa2.A set of explorers released by the unmanned Hayabusa2 successfully landed on the…READ FULL ARTICLE