Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

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Space Success Leaves Japan's Agency 'So Relieved'
Space Success
Is a Relief in Japan

Space Success Is a Relief in Japan

Rocket makes orbit and releases observation satellites

(Newser) - Japan's flagship H3 rocket reached orbit and released two small observation satellites in a key second test following a failed debut launch last year, buoying hope for the country in the global space race. The H3 rocket blasted off from the Tanegashima Space Center on time Saturday morning, two...

Japan Describes What It Got From That Asteroid

Chips that look like charcoal

(Newser) - They resemble small fragments of charcoal, but the soil samples collected from an asteroid and returned to Earth by a Japanese spacecraft were hardly disappointing. The samples Japanese space officials described Thursday are as big as 0.4 inches and rock hard, not breaking when picked up or poured into...

Japan Thrilled About 'Treasure Box' From Space

Capsule with material from asteroid was successfully dropped to Earth

(Newser) - China's mission to retrieve moon rocks isn't the only successful space feat in the news these days. A small capsule containing asteroid soil samples that was dropped from 136,700 miles in space by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed as planned in the Australian Outback on Sunday, per...

Historic Asteroid First Was 'Better Than Perfect'

Japan's Hayabusa2 collected underground samples

(Newser) - Japan's space agency says data transmitted from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft indicated it successfully landed on a distant asteroid Thursday and completed its historic mission of collecting underground samples that scientists hope will provide clues to the origin of the solar system. Hayabusa2 had created itself a landing crater in...

Japanese Spacecraft Bombs Asteroid
Japanese Spacecraft
Bombs Asteroid

Japanese Spacecraft Bombs Asteroid

Risky mission to make crater was a success

(Newser) - Japan's space agency says its Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully dropped an explosive designed to make a crater on an asteroid and collect its underground samples to find possible clues to the origin of the solar system. Friday's crater mission was the riskiest for Hayabusa2, as it had to immediately...

Japan to Tackle Space Junk With ... Giant Net

It's magnetic, and first trial run starts next month

(Newser) - The amount of dangerous junk floating around in space is by all accounts getting out of control . Next month, Japan's space agency will try to do something about it with a novel idea: It's launching a huge magnetic net, reports the South China Morning Post . The contraption is...

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