Tag: Hayabusa 2

  • Asteroid Ryugu revealed by approaching Japanese spacecraft

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    EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated June 21 with new images. These views of asteroid Ryugu were taken June 18 through June 20 by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft’s telescopic optical navigation camera, showing the rotating object as the probe approached. Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Koichi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University…

  • Asteroid missions on track to reach their destinations in 2018

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    Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft at asteroid Ryugu. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Pioneering spacecraft from NASA and the Japanese space agency promise to reveal two unexplored asteroids later this year, officials said Wednesday, beginning surveys that will culminate in daring descents to capture samples for return to Earth, where eager scientists await a hands-on…

  • Asteroid probe confirmed on good trajectory after Earth flyby

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    Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft near Earth. Credit: JAXA A Japanese space probe picked up just the right amount of speed when it flew by Earth earlier this month, using the planet’s gravity to slingshot toward an asteroid scientists think is a primordial leftover from the ancient solar system, mission managers said Monday.…

  • Target of Japanese space mission named for dragon’s palace

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    Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft at asteroid Ryugu. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita The Japanese space agency has selected Ryugu as the name of an asteroid pursued by the country’s Hayabusa 2 space probe, naming the object after a dragon’s palace in an ancient Japanese fairy tale, officials said Monday. A selection committee picked the…

  • Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid mission checks out

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    Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Three months into an interplanetary cruise expected to last three-and-a-half years, Japan’s $300 million Hayabusa 2 mission is in good health as it begins an ion-powered pursuit of an asteroid to return a piece of it to Earth. The robotic spacecraft is already traveling more…

  • NASA, JAXA reach asteroid sample-sharing agreement

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    Artist’s concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab Scientists from the United States and Japan plan to share asteroid specimens from the OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa 2 sample return missions under an agreement signed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The missions will explore…

  • Hayabusa 2 launches on audacious asteroid adventure

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    Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid mission blasts off from Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H-2A rocket. Credit: JAXA A Japanese H-2A launcher blasted off from an idyllic island spaceport Tuesday, dispatching a daring six-year expedition to bring a piece of an asteroid back to Earth. The Hayabusa 2 mission’s roundtrip voyage began at 0422 GMT Wednesday…

  • Live coverage: Japanese asteroid mission blasts off

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    Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket carrying Hayabusa 2, a robotic spacecraft designed to collect samples from an asteroid and return the material to Earth. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

  • Japan set to launch asteroid sample return mission

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    The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is mated to the top of an H-2A launcher at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Credit: JAXA Japan is readying an H-2A rocket for liftoff Tuesday to kick off an audacious six-year roundtrip journey a carbon-rich asteroid, drop a fleet of landers to its surface, collect primordial rock samples, and…

  • Philae’s “little cousin” heading for asteroid touchdown

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    A technician installs the MASCOT lander into the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft before launching to an asteroid. Credit: DLR Weeks after accomplishing the first touchdown on a comet, the team of European scientists that developed the Philae landing craft is awaiting launch of a related robot riding piggyback with Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to achieve the…