Tag: Japan
-
Emirates Mars Mission arrives in Japan for launch preparations
The Emirati Mars Mission, or Hope spacecraft, is pictured inside a clean room during ground testing. Credit: MBRSC The Arab world’s first Mars probe has arrived at its launch site in Japan after officials navigated coronavirus-related quarantine protocols and travel restrictions to ensure the spacecraft can launch on time in July. The Mars orbiter arrived…
-
BepiColombo flies by Earth, completing first leg of journey to Mercury
A sequence of images captured by one of the selfie cameras on BepiColombo shortly before the closest approach to Earth. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to…
-
NASA, JAXA assign two more astronauts to second piloted Crew Dragon flight
JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi on-board the International Space Station in 2010. Credit: NASA Veteran astronauts Soichi Noguchi and Shannon Walker have been assigned to fly to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s second piloted Crew Dragon mission later this year, joining commander Mike Hopkins and astronaut Victor Glover on a planned six-month expedition in orbit.…
-
Japanese astronaut joins the crew for SpaceX Dragon mission to space station
Veteran Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, seen here in 2010, is joining the crew of a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station. (NASA Photo) The first non-American to be added to the crew for a SpaceX Dragon flight to the International Space Station is Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Noguchi first visited the space…
-
Phobos sample return mission enters development for 2024 launch
Artist’s concept of the Japanese MMX spacecraft near Mars and Phobos. Credit: JAXA Japan’s space agency has approved a robotic mission to retrieve a sample from the Martian moon Phobos for return to Earth to begin full development for a planned launch in 2024, officials said Thursday. The Martian Moon eXploration, or MMX, spacecraft will…
-
Japanese companies agree to buy Spaceflight rideshare launch broker
Artist’s concept of a “Sherpa” multi-satellite adapter structure in orbit. Credit: Spaceflight Spaceflight Industries said this week it is selling its rideshare launch business — known as Spaceflight — to a joint venture owned by two Japanese companies. The launch broker arranges rides to space for CubeSats and other small satellite, aggregating multiple payloads for…
-
Japan launches optical spy satellite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated after launch. An H-2A rocket lifted off at 10:34 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Monday from the Tanegashima Space Center with a Japanese intelligence-gathering satellite. Credit: NVS video Japan launched an optical reconnaissance satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center Sunday aboard an H-2A rocket after a 12-day delay caused by a nitrogen leak.…
-
Japanese billionaire pulls out of moonshot dating TV project and apologizes to 27,722 women
Japanese billionaire space enthusiast Yusaku Maezawa has broken up with AbemaTV, which was working on a reality-TV dating show focusing on his planned trip around the moon. (Yusaku Maezawa via Twitter) It’s not you, it’s me: That’s basically what Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is saying about his decision to end participation in a reality-TV matchmaking…
-
Launch of Japanese spy satellite postponed by nitrogen leak
A Japanese H-2A rocket stands on its launch pad Monday at the Tanegashima Space Center before officials scrubbed a launch attempt due to a nitrogen leak. Credit: NVS on YouTube Japanese officials halted a countdown Monday at the Tanegashima Space Center when teams overseeing preparations for launch of an H-2A rocket detected a nitrogen gas…
-
Startup launches broadband satellite on SpaceX rocket to connect Pacific islands
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks downrange from Cape Canaveral Monday night with the JCSAT 18/Kacific 1 communications satellite. Credit: SpaceX A hefty communications satellite built by Boeing and launched by SpaceX Monday night from Cape Canaveral is on the way to a lofty perch more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean,…