JAXA – Page 10 – Spaceflight Now

Japan’s Epsilon rocket launches seven tech demo satellites

January 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

Seven small satellites launched aboard a Japanese Epsilon rocket Friday, including a diverse suite of tech demo payloads and a spacecraft designed to create an artificial meteor shower next year that developers say should be visible with the naked eye.

Live coverage: Epsilon rocket lifts off with seven satellites

January 17, 2019 Stephen Clark

Seven Japanese and Vietnamese smallsats are set to ride Japan’s solid-fueled Epsilon launcher into orbit at 0050 GMT Friday (7:50 p.m. EST Thursday) on a mission that engineers say will demonstrate the light-class rocket’s ability to accommodate multiple payloads on a single flight.

Japanese cargo capsule succeeds in re-entry tech demo

November 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

A miniature cargo return vehicle carried aboard a Japanese supply ship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month in the first test of a new capsule to bring home experiment samples from the International Space Station.

Japan launches satellite to study human causes of climate change

October 29, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Japanese H-2A rocket deployed a satellite in orbit Monday to measure greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere and help scientists better quantify the role of human activity in climate change.

Live coverage: Japan’s H-2A launches on 40th flight

October 28, 2018 Stephen Clark

Flying on its 40th mission, a Japanese H-2A rocket lifted off at 0408 GMT (12:08 a.m. EDT) Monday from the Tanegashima Space Center carrying Japan’s GOSAT 2 satellite to measure greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere and the KhalifaSat Earth observation satellite for the United Arab Emirates.

Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury

October 20, 2018 William Harwood

A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.

Photos: BepiColombo stacked for launch to Mercury

October 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

Ground crews at the Guiana Space Center in South America have spent the last few months preparing the BepiColombo spacecraft, a tandem mission with European and Japanese science orbiters bound for Mercury, for launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

Live coverage: Probe heading to Mercury blasts off from French Guiana

October 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

The nearly $1.9 billion BepiColombo mission to Mercury jointly developed by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency lifted off Friday night from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Launch occurred at 9:45 p.m. EDT Friday (0145 GMT Saturday).

Japanese cargo ship reaches space station

September 27, 2018 William Harwood

A Japanese cargo ship loaded with more than 10,000 pounds of supplies and equipment, including a new set of solar array batteries, was captured by the International Space Station’s robot arm early Thursday to wrap up a trouble-free rendezvous.

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.