Tag: Japan
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Japanese sample return craft departs asteroid, heads for Earth
The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Credit: JAXA Closing out a year-and-a-half of exploration, surveys and sampling operations at asteroid Ryugu, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft fired thrusters in a departure maneuver Wednesday and headed for Earth with specimens snatched from the asteroid’s dark and rocky…
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After visiting asteroid, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe heads back to Earth with samples
An image from Hayabusa 2’s camera shows the half-mile-wide, diamond-shaped asteroid known as Ryugu receding in the metaphorical rear-view mirror. (JAXA, Chiba Institute of Technology and Collaborators) Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft and its science team bid a bittersweet farewell to the asteroid Ryugu, 180 million miles from Earth, and began the months-long return trip to…
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Japanese cargo freighter departs space station
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 1:40 p.m. EDT (1740 GMT) after HTV release. Japan’s eighth HTV cargo freighter was released from the space station’s robotic arm at 1:21 p.m. EDT (1721 GMT) Friday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now A Japanese HTV cargo freighter departed the International Space Station Friday and headed for a destructive re-entry, disposing of trash…
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NASA likely to buy Soyuz seats, defer Japanese astronaut flight
File photo of a Soyuz spacecraft approaching the International Space Station for docking July 20, 2019. Credit: NASA With lingering uncertainly about when new commercial crew spaceships will be ready to launch humans, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Thursday the space agency will replace a Japanese astronaut with a U.S. space flier on the next…
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Japanese satellite re-enters atmosphere after experiments in ultra-low orbit
Artist’s concept of the Tsubame satellite, also known as the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS). Credit: JAXA An experimental Japanese satellite has ended its mission after proving it could operate at super-low altitudes, testing an Earth-imaging camera and using ion propulsion to fight against aerodynamic drag at an altitude of 112 miles (181 kilometers).…
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Japan’s KAGRA detector joins LIGO and Virgo in global hunt for gravitational waves
An illustration provides a cutaway view of the underground KAGRA gravitational-wave detector in Japan. (ICRR / Univ. of Tokyo Illustration) Japan’s Kamioka Gravitational-Wave Detector, or KAGRA, is due to start teaming up with similar detectors in Washington state, Louisiana and Italy in December, boosting scientists’ ability to triangulate on the origins of cataclysmic cosmic events…
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HTV delivers batteries and experiments to space station
Japan’s eighth HTV supply ship was captured by the International Space Station’s Canadian-built robotic arm at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT) Saturday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Japan’s eighth robotic resupply mission to the International Space Station arrived at its destination Saturday, delivering six fresh lithium-ion batteries, science experiments, CubeSats and other gear to the research…
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Live coverage: Japanese cargo freighter launches from Tanegashima
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an H-2B rocket with Japan’s eighth H-2 Transfer Vehicle on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”NASA TV”] [tabby title=”JAXA Webcast”] [tabbyending]
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Fresh batteries, experiments on the way to the International Space Station
A Japanese H-2B rocket lifts off with the eighth HTV resupply freighter. Credit: MHI/JAXA A Japanese H-2B rocket fired into orbit Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center with an automated cargo freighter loaded with more than 4.1 tons of batteries, experiments, spacewalk equipment, water and provisions for the International Space Station. The unpiloted cargo ship…
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Japanese cargo launch reset for Tuesday after fire
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Saturday, Sept. 21, with new launch date. A Japanese H-2B rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: MHI Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the prime contractor for Japan’s H-2B rocket, said Friday that engineers concluded a fire on the launch pad during a countdown earlier this month was most likely…