MINERVA asteroid rover
MINERVA (Micro/Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid) was Japan's first planetary-exploration rover, carried by JAXA's Hayabusa asteroid sample-return spacecraft to Itokawa. Deployed on 12 November 2005, the 591 g hopping rover missed the asteroid surface but returned an external image of Hayabusa and demonstrated autonomous hopping and other technologies after release.
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Identity
- Aliases
- MINERVAMicro/Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for AsteroidMUSES-C MINERVAHayabusa MINERVAMINERVA micro-roverMINERVA planetary exploration rover
- Family Name
- MINERVA
- Full Name
- MINERVA asteroid rover
- Roles
- roverresearchtechnology_demonstrator
- Status
- retired
- Type
- spacecraft
Details
- Description
- MINERVA (Micro/Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid) was Japan's first planetary-exploration rover, carried by JAXA's Hayabusa asteroid sample-return spacecraft to Itokawa. Deployed on 12 November 2005, the 591 g hopping rover missed the asteroid surface but returned an external image of Hayabusa and demonstrated autonomous hopping and other technologies after release.
- First Flight Year
- 2,003
- Last Flight Year
- 2,005
- Operator
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 15, 2026 at 06:46:03 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 15, 2026 at 06:46:03 UTC