Tag: JAXA
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Japanese cargo craft departs space station
The HTV 6 supply ship leaves the International Space Station on Friday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Japan’s sixth HTV supply ship departed the International Space Station on Friday and headed for a destructive re-entry over the South Pacific with trash and disused batteries from the research lab, but engineers will first use the spacecraft for…
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Japanese spacecraft spots planet-spanning wave on Venus
In these images from Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft, a stationary bow wave is seen on Venus over several days in December 2015. Credit: JAXA Images from Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft have revealed a gigantic wave in the atmosphere of Venus, and scientists say it may be the largest such feature in the solar system. The bow-shaped wave…
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Experimental flight of Japanese sounding rocket falls short of orbit
Credit: JAXA A small research rocket launched from Japan fell into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday after attempting to send a student-built CubeSat into orbit, Japanese officials said. The three-stage rocket took off at 2333 GMT (6:33 p.m. EST) Saturday from the Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan’s Kagoshima prefecture, four days after inclement weather…
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Japan’s SS-520 fails during TRICOM-1 launch to demo small rocket capability
Japan conducted an experimental launch, using a modified SS-520 sounding rocket to place a CubeSat, TRICOM-1, into low Earth orbit. The mission lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Centre at 08:33 local time (23:33 UTC on Saturday), aiming to mark a new record for small rocket launch capability. However, the launch has been declared as…
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Launch of experimental Japanese rocket scrubbed
The SS-520-4 launcher is in position for liftoff in this photo from the Uchinoura Space Center taken Monday. Credit: JAXA The launch of an experimental fin-stabilized Japanese rocket with a shoebox-sized CubeSat was scrubbed Tuesday, pushing back a test flight to demonstrate how companies and institutions can inexpensively put small satellites in space. The modified…
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Live coverage: Japan’s enhanced Epsilon booster blasts off
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Epsilon rocket rocket with Japan’s Exploration of Energization and Radiation in Geospace, or ERG, mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. JAXA’s live video stream begins at 1040 GMT (5:40 a.m. EST).
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Research platform launched to brave Van Allen radiation belts
The Epsilon rocket blasted off at 1100 GMT (6 a.m. EST; 8 p.m. Japan Standard Time) Tuesday. Credit: JAXA Japan launched a research satellite Tuesday to repeatedly fly through the Van Allen belts high above Earth, helping scientists sort out how chaotic geomagnetic storms form and evolve and potentially endanger astronauts, spacecraft and infrastructure vital…
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Japan prepares launch of satellite to probe Earth’s radiation belts
Artist’s concept of the ERG spacecraft in orbit, backdropped by an false-color illustration of Earth’s magnetosphere. Credit: JAXA Japanese engineers aim to launch an upgraded Epsilon booster Tuesday with a satellite to study the origins of powerful geomagnetic storms, phenomena that trigger picturesque polar auroras but could disrupt communications and and damage electric grids. The…
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Timeline of events during Epsilon rocket’s launch with the ERG mission
The ground track for the Epsilon rocket’s launch with Japan’s ERG mission. Credit: JAXA An Epsilon rocket is set to send a Japanese space weather research probe into an orbit stretching more than 20,000 miles (33,000 kilometers) above Earth to investigate how the Van Allen radiation belts shrink and swell with variable solar activity. The Exploration of…
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Japan’s HTV-6 resupply vehicle arrives at the ISS
Following what was the fifth orbital launch of December, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) HTV-6 resupply vehicle completed a four day journey to the International Space Station on Tuesday, via capture by the SSRMS. The cargo vehicle was launched on December 9 from the Tanegashima Space Center, via the use of a H-IIB rocket.…