Landing mechanism is cool too. The lander has deformable metallic sponge balls on the legs, hits the soil at its "heel" and tip forward[1]. Official reasons gi

Landing mechanism is cool too. The lander has deformable metallic sponge balls on the legs, hits the soil at its "heel" and tip forward[1]. Official reasons given is it allows reduction of structural margins, physical interferences and tipover risks on inclined surfaces, which seem to make sense. Maybe it's just me that it looks a bit like someone had to have a spacecraft that lands like the Space Shuttle with engines pointing back. 1: https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/feature/forefront/files/201912_1.jpg https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/feature/forefront/files/201912_1.jp...