Japan – Page 17 – Spaceflight Now

New sample return capability launches with Japanese space station freighter

September 22, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Japanese cargo freighter launched Saturday on a five-day trek to the International Space Station, carrying a set of six replacement batteries, an experimental life support system, and a small new landing craft to bring specimens from the space station back to Earth.

Japanese robots land on asteroid, send back pictures

September 22, 2018 Stephen Clark

A pair of tiny automated robots touched down on asteroid Ryugu on Friday after separating from Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft, sending back pictures as the probes bounced across the asteroid’s alien landscape nearly 200 million miles from Earth.

Launch of Japan’s seventh HTV supply ship reset for Saturday

September 21, 2018 Stephen Clark

Japanese space officials have rescheduled the launch of an H-2B rocket and a space station-bound HTV supply ship for Saturday after halting a countdown last week due to a propulsion system problem and bypassing a launch opportunity Friday because of a poor weather forecast.

Japanese billionaire reserves moon flight with SpaceX

September 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

Promising to take a half-dozen or more artists with him on the journey, Japanese fashion magnate Yusaku Maezawa said Monday he has paid a deposit for a ride around the moon aboard SpaceX’s planned BFR rocket as soon as 2023, a financial infusion that will help bankroll development of the company’s futuristic interplanetary transporter.

Live coverage: Japanese supply ship launches in pursuit of space station

September 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

Japan’s seventh HTV resupply mission to the International Space Station blasted off from Tanegashima Island on Saturday aboard an H-2B rocket. The unpiloted cargo carrier launched at 1752 GMT (1:52 p.m. EDT), kicking off a nearly five-day pursuit of the space station.

JAXA postpones station cargo launch as typhoon threatens Guam tracking site

September 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

A typhoon forecast to move near a ground station in Guam on Monday has forced officials to postpone the launch of a Japanese HTV cargo ship loaded with more than 13,000 pounds of supplies, experiments and a replacement set of batteries for the International Space Station.

Hayabusa 2 team sets dates for asteroid landings

September 6, 2018 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is preparing to release three hopping robots to land on asteroid Ryugu in the coming month, with tiny instruments scientists hope will explore the airless world’s boulder-strewn landscape and return the first images from the surface of an asteroid.

Hayabusa 2 probe gets a closer look at asteroid amid landing preps

August 15, 2018 Stephen Clark

The Japanese Hayabusa 2 spacecraft dropped within a half-mile of asteroid Ryugu last week, probing its gravity field ahead of key decisions in the coming days to settle on a target site for the robotic mission’s first sample collection attempt, and the best touchdown location for a European lander stowed on the mothership.

Arianespace aims for busy second half of 2018

July 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

Europe’s first mission to Mercury, a quartet of Galileo navigation spacecraft, the world’s first global winds observatory, and a new European weather satellite have arrived at an equatorial launch base in French Guiana in preparation for launches in the coming months.

Japanese spacecraft reaches asteroid after three-and-a-half-year journey

June 28, 2018 Stephen Clark

Japan’s robotic Hayabusa 2 spacecraft arrived Wednesday at asteroid Ryugu, a diamond-shaped object more than a half-mile wide where the probe will attempt a brief landing later this year to collect rock specimens for return to Earth.