Japan

ArtemisCape CanaveralCLPSEast CoastFirefly AerospaceInternationalJapanNASANews and Updates

Blue Ghost and HAKUTO-R Take Flight

Two robotic moon landers shared a ride into space in the early morning of Wednesday, January 15th. Hours earlier, Blue Ghost, built by Firefly Aerospace in the United States, and HAKUTO-R, built by ispace of Japan, were comanifested in the fairing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, stacked one on top of the other.

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InternationalJapanNews and UpdatesPolicyScience Missions

UAE taps Japan’s MHI for Asteroid Mission

Asteroid exploration is not for the faint of heart, and the latest mission announced in a long line of asteroid explorers does not shy away from a challenge. The UAE has become the latest nation to set their sights on asteroids close to home, with an ambitious mission lined up to explore not one, but 7 Near Earth Asteroids.

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ESAInternationalJapanNews and UpdatesPlanetary Science

BepiColombo Completes Mercury Flyby on New Trajectory

The joint European/Japanese BepiColombo mission completed its fourth encounter with Mercury on Wednesday, September 4th 2024. The flyby was the latest of many gravity assists the mission needs to decelerate itself into Mercury orbit, and took the spacecraft closer to the planet’s surface than ever before.

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ArtemisInternationalJapanNASANews and UpdatesPolicy

Meet The Pressurized Rover

In April of this year, the United States and Japan signed a formal agreement to collaborate on the first of a new kind of spacecraft for the Artemis Program: a pressurized rover. Acting like a camper van for astronauts to live in as they roam across the surface of the Moon, the pressurized rover is a dramatic new capability for the Artemis Program.

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InternationalJapanLast Week In SpaceflightNews and UpdatesPlanetary Science

Japan Becomes Fifth Nation to Land on the Moon

On January 19th 2024, JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully touched down on the surface of the Moon. This makes Japan the fifth nation in history to conduct a successful soft landing on the surface of the Moon, following Russia, the United States, China, and India.

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