Tag: Japan
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Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe releases ‘bomb’ at asteroid
Artist’s illustration of Hayabusa 2’s impactor experiment. Credit: JAXA Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft dropped an explosive charge on asteroid Ryugu on Thursday night in an audacious attempt to carve a crater on the object, exposing pristine underground rocks to be retrieved by the probe for return to Earth. Six weeks after snagging a sample from…
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Hayabusa 2’s asteroid touch-and-go comes to life in dramatic new video
A camera riding on Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft recorded stunning views of the probe’s final descent to asteroid Ryugu last month, showing the rocky debris kicked up by the robot explorer’s touch-and-go landing to collect a sample for return to Earth. The on-board camera observed Hayabusa 2’s sampling horn contact Ryugu’s gravelly surface Feb. 21,…
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Watch Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe blast away a blizzard of rocks from an asteroid
If there was ever any doubt that Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft was able to get access to samples from an asteroid called Ryugu last month, a video released today should put those doubts to rest. The black-and-white video clip, shot by the probe’s CAM-H monitoring camera, shows the sampling horn being lowered to the sunlit…
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Japanese probe lands on asteroid to capture sample
Moments after landing on asteroid Ryugu, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 captured this view of its landing zone from a distance of about 100 feet (30 meters), showing the probe’s shadow and markings left on the surface, likely from the spacecraft’s thruster jets firing to begin its ascent. Credit: JAXA Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft briefly landed on…
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Japan’s ispace moon mission brings in new partners — and makes deal for battery test
Artwork shows ispace’s Hakuto-R lander and rover on the lunar surface. (ispace Illustration) The Japanese moon venture known as ispace says it has recruited new corporate partners and struck a deal to put a commercial payload on its Hakuto-R lunar lander. Ispace has arranged for two spacecraft to be launched to the moon, in 2020…
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Japan’s Hayabusa 2 team says spacecraft touches down on asteroid to grab sample
An image captured just after the Hayabusa 2’s touchdown on asteroid Ryugu shows the H-shaped shadow of the spacecraft and its solar panels. The dark splotch represents material disturbed by the sample collection operation. (JAXA Photo via Twitter) Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft successfully touched down today on asteroid Ryugu, more than 200 million miles from…
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Japanese cargo capsule succeeds in re-entry tech demo
The HTV Small Re-entry Capsule is hoisted from the Pacific Ocean southeast of Japan on Nov. 11. Credit: JAXA A miniature cargo return vehicle carried aboard a Japanese supply ship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month in the first test of a new capsule to bring home experiment samples from the International…
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Photos: Falcon 9 takes off from launch pad 39A with Es’hail 2 comsat
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosted by a recycled first stage fired into the skies over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 15, and these photos show the start of the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher’s journey into orbit. The Japanese-built, Qatari-owned Es’hail 2 communications satellite rode the Falcon 9 rocket into an egg-shaped geostationary…
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SpaceX launches Qatar’s Es’hail 2 communications satellite
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Thursday from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket darted into a partly cloudy sky over Florida’s Space Coast with a roar Thursday afternoon, carrying the Japanese-built Es’hail 2 communications satellite into space to beam commercial video and data services…
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Live coverage: SpaceX launches communications satellite for Qatar
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center with Qatar’s Es’hail 2 communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Spaceflight Now members can watch a live view of the launch pad. SpaceX’s live video webcast begins around 15 minutes prior to launch, and…