Tag: JAXA
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Asteroid missions on track to reach their destinations in 2018
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…
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Japanese radar satellite launched aboard third Epsilon booster
Japan’s Epsilon rocket delivered a civilian-operated radar imaging satellite to orbit Wednesday on a mission to demonstrate the performance of a new commercial spacecraft design and collect all-weather imagery for use in emergencies, mapping and global surveillance. Developed by NEC Corp., the ASNARO 2 satellite launched Wednesday was developed with $144 million from the Japanese…
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Japan’s ASNARO-2 launched on third Epsilon flight
Japan’s experimental radar imaging satellite ASNARO-2 was launched Thursday aboard the third flight of the Epsilon rocket. Liftoff – from the Uchinoura Space Centre – occurred at the opening of a twenty-four-minute, two-second window opening at 06:06:11 local time (21:06 UTC on Wednesday). Japan’s first launch of 2018, Wednesday’s mission was originally scheduled towards the…
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Japanese H-IIA rocket launches GCOM-C mission
Japan launched the second satellite of its Global Change Observation Mission Saturday. The GCOM-C satellite lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Centre atop an H-IIA rocket at the start of a 22-minute window that opened at 10:26:22 local time (01:26 UTC). Saturday’s launch, also lofting the Super-Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS), was Japan’s seventh of…
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Japanese H-2A rocket lifts off with two satellites
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 0300 GMT Saturday (10:00 p.m. Friday) with confirmation of a successful launch. A Japanese H-2A rocket lifts off at 0126:22 GMT Saturday (8:26:22 p.m. EST Friday) from the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: JAXA Two research satellites to probe Earth’s climate patterns and test ion engine technology to counter atmospheric drag in an…
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NASA confirms contribution to Japanese-led Mars mission
Artist’s concept of the MMX spacecraft at Phobos. Credit: JAXA/NASA NASA announced Thursday it will fund development of a scientific instrument that will fly on Japan’s Martian Moons Exploration mission, a robotic probe set for launch in 2024 to bring back the first samples from Mars’ largest moon Phobos. A neutron and gamma-ray spectrograph developed…
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Successful H-2A rocket launch rounds out Japanese navigation network
Credit: JAXA Japan’s regional satellite navigation network, conceived to improve GPS coverage over Japanese territory, received its fourth member Monday with an on-target H-2A rocket launch. The addition of the Michibiki 4 satellite puts Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System on course to begin full operational service early next year, coming after the launch of the network’s…
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Japanese H-2A rocket launch rescheduled for Saturday
A photo of the H-2A rocket on the launch pad during a launch attempt Aug. 12. Credit: MHI A heavy-duty version of Japan’s H-2A rocket is now scheduled to lift off Saturday with a geostationary navigation satellite after a week-long delay to diagnose and resolve a leak in the rocket’s propulsion system, the Japanese space…
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Live coverage: H-2A rocket blasts off with navigation satellite
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket with the Michibiki 3 navigation satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Poor weather forecast delays launch of Japanese navigation satellite
Updated Aug. 10 with new launch window. The H-2A rocket’s first stage was positioned on its mobile launch platform July 3 in preparation for the launch of the Michibiki 3 navigation satellite. Credit: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries The Japanese space agency said Wednesday the launch of an H-2A rocket with the country’s third navigation satellite was…