Tag: JAXA
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9’s 300th Flight and SpaceX to launch lunar lander
On the week of the sixth anniversary of the first flight of Falcon Heavy, SpaceX launched four separate Falcon 9 missions. Meanwhile, Roscosmos resupplied the International Space Station (ISS) with Progress MS-26 launching on Soyuz. Early Thursday morning, Falcon 9 launched from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) taking NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud,…
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A Japanese spacecraft faceplanted on the Moon and lived to tell the tale
Japan’s first lunar lander made an unsteady touchdown on the Moon last week, moments after one of its two main engines inexplicably lost power and apparently fell off the spacecraft, officials said Thursday. About the size of a small car, the Small Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on Friday, making Japan the fifth country…
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A Japanese spacecraft faceplanted on the Moon and lived to tell the tale
Japan’s first lunar lander made an unsteady touchdown on the Moon last week, moments after one of its two main engines inexplicably lost power and apparently fell off the spacecraft, officials said Thursday. About the size of a small car, the Small Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on Friday, making Japan the fifth country…
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Japan’s SLIM lands on the Moon upside down, overcomes power issues
Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander appears to have achieved a soft touchdown on the Moon’s surface but is currently unable to generate electricity from onboard solar cells. To utilize the remaining battery life to maximum effect, controllers worked to prioritize the recording and downloading of data. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency…
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Japan’s SLIM lands on the Moon upside down, overcomes power issues
Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander appears to have achieved a soft touchdown on the Moon’s surface but is currently unable to generate electricity from onboard solar cells. To utilize the remaining battery life to maximum effect, controllers worked to prioritize the recording and downloading of data. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency…
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Japan becomes the fifth nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon
The Japanese space agency’s first lunar lander arrived on the the Moon’s surface Friday, but a power system problem threatens to cut short its mission. Japan’s robotic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission began a 20-minute final descent using two hydrazine-fueled engines to drop out of orbit. After holding to hover at 500 meters…
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ISS Roundup: 25 year anniversary, spacewalks, cargo arrivals and departures
The final quarter of 2023 saw the International Space Station (ISS) celebrate 25 years in orbit, though there was no letup in the ongoing work as the Expedition 70 crew settled into the tasks and experiments that are carried out onboard the orbital laboratory. Cargo spacecraft arrived at the Station carrying supplies and fresh experiments…
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Three robotic missions target Moon landings over one week in January
Intuitive Machines engineers loading the IM-1 mission Nova-C lunar lander into its custom container in Houston, TX. Image: Intuitive Machines In a blend of interesting circumstances and happenstance, two private companies and Japan’s space agency are all poised to land on the Moon in the back half of January 2024. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency…
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Japan is studying a reusable rocket, but it won’t fly before 2030
Japan debuted the new flagship H3 rocket in March, capping a decade-long, nearly $1.5 billion development effort to replace a launch vehicle that has been in service for more than 20 years. The H3’s upper stage failed to ignite a few minutes after liftoff, causing the rocket and its Earth observation payload to crash into…
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Japanese H-IIA launches X-ray telescope and lunar lander
The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA launch vehicle, as its career is being wound down in favor of the H3, launched the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) robotic lunar lander and the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) X-ray telescope on its 47th flight. After this flight, the second of 2023 for the H-IIA, the…