Probe to attempt asteroid landing Feb. 22
The Hayabusa2 unmanned probe will attempt to touch down on the asteroid Ryugu on Feb. 22, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said Wednesday.
Space & Aeronautics
Space
Wishing upon an artificial shooting star / A succession of Japanese join the fray
Japanese companies are planning a variety of projects to be executed in the vastness of space.
Driverless terminal bus goes on test run at Tokyo's Haneda airport
A minibus decorated with All Nippon Airways Co.’s signature blue and white logo motors across the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary bus, with a person sitting in the driver’s seat — except no one is really operating the vehicle.
Japan launches Epsilon rocket carrying seven satellites, including one supposed to generate fake meteor shower
Japan successfully launched on Friday morning a low-cost Epsilon rocket carrying seven satellites built by 10 organizations, including a space venture aiming to create artificial shooting stars.
Partial solar eclipse observed across Japan
A partial solar eclipse, in which part of the sun’s disk is obscured by the moon passing between the star and Earth, was observed across Japan on Sunday morning.
Honda marks its first business jet sale in Japan
Honda Motor delivered Thursday its first HondaJet business plane in Japan to prominent investor Kotaro Chiba, co-founder of game company Colopl.
The automaker is moving into the largely untapped domestic market for private business planes. It handed over a HondaJet Elite boasting an improved range of 2,661 km -- enough for direct flights between Tokyo and Beijing or Shanghai. The jet is priced at $5.25 million.
Global collaboration needed for future space missions
Japan is launching multiple missions to explore the mysteries of the solar system in the coming years, joining hands with the European Union and countries such as India to compete with space superpowers such as the United States and Russia.
Japan to beef up monitoring of islands by using images collected from state satellites
The government is considering beefing up its monitoring activities over remote islands that define Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones using images captured by state-controlled satellites, government officials said Saturday.
2018 in science in Japan: Climate change, space exploration and water bears
In casting an eye back over memorable science and environment stories from Japan in 2018, it is impossible to ignore the extreme weather that hit the country.
Robotic probes complete mission on asteroid
Small robotic explorers and a lander loaded on the Japanese asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 have collected valuable data after successfully landing on the asteroid Ryugu, attracting global attention for the accomplishment.