Tag: JAXA

Japan says Moon lander ‘resumed operations’

Japan’s Moon lander has resumed operations, the space agency said on Monday, indicating that power had been restored. After it landed on January 20, JAXA had said that problems with the craft’s solar batteries meant they were not generating power. “Last evening we succeeded in establishing communication with SLIM, and resumed operations,” JAXA said on X, formerly Twitter. “We immediately started scientific observations with MBC, and have successfully obtained first light for 10-band observation,” it […]

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Japan space probe launches new robot onto asteroid

by Miwa SUZUKI Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese probe launched a new observation robot towards an asteroid on Wednesday as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The Hayabusa2 probe launched the French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, towards the Ryugu asteroid’s surface, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. “We can confirm that the MASCOT separated from the spacecraft as planned,” the […]

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Japan space robots start asteroid survey

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A pair of robot rovers have landed on an asteroid and begun a survey, Japan’s space agency said Saturday, as it conducts a mission aiming to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The rover mission marks the world’s first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The round, cookie tin-shaped robots successfully reached the Ryugu asteroid a day after they […]

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Space station crew begins final training before December launch

Reuters — The next crew of the International Space Station conducted final qualification training this week at the Gagarin Training Center in Star City, Russia. Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov, and flight engineers Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) posed for photos and took questions from the media ahead of their training. The crew are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 17 for […]

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Space drone reveals first images

Reuters — The first images taken by camera drone robot Int-Ball have just been released. The spherical drone has been deployed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), on board the module Kibo on the International Space Station (ISS). It arrived at ISS on June 4. Int-Ball is made from 3D-printed parts and existing drone technology. It is controlled by researchers at the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center. Taking photographs and video can take up 10 […]

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Japan’s troubled ‘space junk’ mission fails

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — An experimental Japanese mission to clear ‘space junk’ or rubbish from the Earth’s orbit has ended in failure, officials said Monday, in an embarassment for Tokyo. Over 100 million pieces of garbage are thought to be whizzing around the planet, including cast-off equipment from old satellites and bits of rocket, which experts say could pose risks for future space exploration. Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) were trying to test […]

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