Tag: JAXA
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BepiColombo Mercury mission tested for journey into ‘pizza oven’
A view of the BepiColombo spacecraft stacked in launch configuration at the European Space Agency’s ESTEC test center in the Netherlands. The sunshield cover for Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter is pictured at lower right. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space Three spacecraft built in Europe and Japan have completed their final joint tests to ensure they…
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JAXA, NASA approve replacement for failed Hitomi astronomy satellite
Artist’s concept of the failed Hitomi satellite. Credit: JAXA The Japanese space agency is moving ahead with a smaller-scale X-ray astronomy satellite to replace the failed Hitomi observatory, which spun out of control about a month-and-a-half after its launch last year. The X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission, or XARM, could launch as soon as March 2021,…
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Japanese navigation craft successfully delivered to orbit
An H-2A rocket lifted off Thursday morning, Japanese time, with the Michibiki 2 navigation satellite. Credit: JAXA Japan deployed the first of three navigation satellites it intends to launch in the next year Thursday, sending a 4.4-ton (4-metric ton) spacecraft on the way to a high-altitude orbital perch on top of an H-2A rocket to…
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Japan’s H-IIA conducts Michibiki-2 launch
Japan’s H-IIA rocket launched the second navigation satellite in the country’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System in the first of three launches scheduled for Thursday. Liftoff for the Michibiki-2 satellite took place from the Tanegashima Space Centre, on schedule, at 09:17 JST (00:17 UTC). JAXA Launch: The payload of Thursday’s launch, Michibiki No.2, is the second member…
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Photos: Japan’s H-2A rocket prepared for launch with Michibiki 2
The second satellite in Japan’s regional space-based navigation constellation is set for launch Thursday aboard an H-2A rocket, and these photos show the hydrogen-fueled launcher’s preparations for liftoff, from stacking inside an assembly hangar at the Tanegashima Space Center through rollout to the launch pad. The two-stage, 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket is powered by hydrogen-fueled engines…
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Japanese rocket scheduled for launch with navigation satellite
Ground crews attach one of the H-2A rocket’s solid-fueled boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Tanegashima Space Center in advance of this week’s launch. Credit: MHI A Japanese H-2A rocket is set for launch Thursday with the country’s second navigation satellite, growing a network of beacons in the sky to give emergency responders,…
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H-2A rocket launches with Japanese radar reconnaissance craft
H-IIAロケット33号機の打ち上げ 竹崎展望台より。 pic.twitter.com/dtpaszjeqY — 柴田孔明 (@koumeiShibata) March 17, 2017 A Japanese spy satellite launched aboard an H-2A rocket Friday, heading for a 300-mile-high (500-kilometer) orbit to track North Korean and Chinese military movements as tensions run high in the region. Equipped with a cloud-penetrating radar capable of seeing targets day or night, the secretive spacecraft was…
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Japanese H-IIA rocket launches latest IGS spy satellite
Japan’s H-IIA rocket has lofted the next in a series of new-generation radar imaging satellite for the country’s military. The launch of latest IGS-5 spacecraft lifted off on schedule at 10:20 local time (01:20 UTC) on Friday, setting sail from the first pad of the Tanegashima Space Centre’s Yoshinobu Launch Complex. Japanese Mission: The launch…
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Poor weather forecast delays Japanese spy satellite launch
File photo of an H-2A rocket inside the assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: JAXA Japanese officials have delayed the launch of a government-owned reconnaissance satellite until at least Friday, local time, because of bad weather predicted over the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. Liftoff of an H-2A rocket with Japan’s sixth…
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Japanese cargo ship ends mission after space debris experiment flounders
Artist’s concept of how the tether for Japan’s KITE experiment would have appeared when deployed from the HTV supply ship. Credit: JAXA Japan’s HTV supply ship fell to Earth on Sunday more than a week after leaving the International Space Station, burning up in the atmosphere after officials gave up on an experiment looking into…