JAXA – Page 15 – Spaceflight Now

Research platform launched to brave Van Allen radiation belts

December 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan launched a research satellite Tuesday to repeatedly fly through the Van Allen belts high above Earth, helping scientists sort out how chaotic geomagnetic storms form and evolve and potentially endanger astronauts, spacecraft and infrastructure vital to life on the ground.

Live coverage: Japan’s enhanced Epsilon booster blasts off

December 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese Epsilon rocket launched Tuesday from the Uchinoura Space Center, a shoreline spaceport on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, with a space weather research probe to study phenomena inside the turbulent Van Allen radiation belts. Liftoff of the 85-foot-tall rocket occurred at 1100 GMT (6 a.m. EST).

Timeline of events during Epsilon rocket’s launch with the ERG mission

December 19, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Epsilon rocket is set to send a Japanese space weather research probe into an orbit stretching more than 20,000 miles above Earth to investigate how the Van Allen radiation belts shrink and swell with variable solar activity.

Japan prepares launch of satellite to probe Earth’s radiation belts

December 19, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japanese engineers aim to launch an upgraded Epsilon booster Tuesday with a satellite to study the origins of powerful geomagnetic storms, phenomena that trigger picturesque polar auroras but could disrupt communications and and damage electric grids.

Japanese HTV makes battery delivery to International Space Station

December 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

Four days after a picture-perfect blastoff from southern Japan, a cargo-carrying supply freighter arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday with 4.5 tons of equipment, food, clothing and experiments.

Japan’s HTV supply ship blasts off for space station

December 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese H-2B rocket launched toward the International Space Station on Friday with a fresh set of high-power batteries, critical parts for the research lab’s carbon dioxide scrubber, and several tons of food, water and provisions.

Timeline of the H-2B rocket’s launch of the Kounotori 6 supply ship

December 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan’s Kounotori 6 cargo carrier will get a 15-minute boost from a powerful H-2B rocket to send the supply ship and its 4.5 tons of provisions and experiments on a four-day pursuit of the International Space Station.

Flight history of Japan’s HTV resupply spacecraft

December 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan’s H-2 Transfer Vehicle has accomplished five flights to the International Space Station, delivering tons of food, clothing and crew provisions, instruments to look at ozone chemistry and investigate dark matter, and critical hardware to keep the research complex operating.

Live coverage: Japanese HTV resupply freighter captured by station robotic arm

December 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan’s sixth automated logistics vehicle packed with 4.5 tons of supplies approached the International Space Station for a laser-guided rendezvous, culminating with grapple of the HTV cargo craft by the station’s robotic arm at 1037 GMT (5:37 a.m. EST) Tuesday.

Photos: H-2B rocket emerges for rollout to launch pad at daybreak

December 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese resupply freighter and its H-2B rocket booster rolled out of the vehicle assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center just before sunrise Friday for the half-hour trip to the launch pad.