NEWSWORTHY
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has won an order from major British satellite communications service operator Inmarsat for a new H-3 launch vehicle, the first such order from the private sector, according to the Japanese company. The value of the order was not disclosed. A commercial satellite ...
NASA deep space probe reaches asteroid deemed potential Earth threat
NASA's deep space explorer Osiris-Rex flew on Monday to within a 19 km of its destination, a skyscraper-size asteroid believed to hold organic compounds fundamental to life as well as the potential to collide with Earth in about 150 years. Launched in September 2016, Osiris-Rex ...
Capsule carrying ISS samples recovered after splashdown into ocean near remote island
A capsule ejected from a space cargo vessel returned to Earth on Sunday, bringing back experiment samples from the International Space Station (ISS) in the first such mission for Japan. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the capsule, measuring 84 centimeters wide and 66 ...
Unmanned Japanese cargo vessel Kounotori heads home from ISS carrying experiment samples
The successful re-entry and collection of samples are expected to contribute to Japan’s efforts toward the development of manned space missions in the future.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and European Space Agency launched twin Mercury probes on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on Oct. 19.
Europe and Japan send spacecraft on seven-year journey to Mercury
The European and Japanese space agencies say an Ariane 5 rocket has successfully lifted a spacecraft into orbit for a joint mission to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
Asteroid touchdown by Japan's Hayabusa2 probe postponed to January
Japan's space agency said Thursday it will postpone space probe Hayabusa2's touchdown on the Ryugu asteroid to around late January from October due to the difficulty in finding a good landing site. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the surface of the asteroid, about 300 ...
Japan space probe Hayabusa2 launches new robot onto Ryugu asteroid
A Japanese probe launched a new observation robot toward an asteroid on Wednesday as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The Hayabusa2 probe launched the French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, toward the Ryugu asteroid's surface, ...
Japanese supply ship Kounotori heads to International Space Station after delays
An unmanned Japanese space capsule is headed to the International Space Station filled with cargo including food, experiments and new batteries. The craft was launched Sunday at 2:52 a.m. from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture and will take 4½ days to reach the space ...
The hopping rovers are expected to take advantage of the flying space rock’s low gravity, but JAXA is still waiting for confirmation they landed.
JAXA launch of ISS supply ship delayed again, this time by equipment flaw
A rocket launch to resupply the International Space Station was delayed again on Saturday by a “serious” equipment problem, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said. "We faced a rather serious issue," Koki Nimura, senior chief engineer at MHI, which developed the rocket, told a news conference. The ...
JAXA astronaut Norishige Kanai ponders life out there after six-month stay on ISS
JAXA astronaut Norishige Kanai came back to earth last month but is still dreaming of space, especially after the discovery of an underground lake on Mars brought mankind one step closer to unraveling the mystery of whether life exists on the red planet. "I was ...
