Japan launches rocket carrying vessel for International Space Station
Japan launched a rocket on Wednesday carrying an unmanned spacecraft bound for the International Space Station, after a fire thwarted its planned launch earlier this month. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s H-IIB rocket carrying the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's supply vessel Kounotori8 was launched at ...
Australia will invest 150 million Australian dollars ($100 million) in its companies and technology to help U.S. President Donald Trump's bid for a moon landing by 2024 and subsequent U.S. missions to Mars, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said over the weekend. Morrison, visiting NASA headquarters ...
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Saturday it plans to launch a rocket with an unmanned spacecraft bound for the International Space Station next Wednesday after a fire thwarted earlier plans. The fire at the launch pad on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Sept. 11 ...
Concentrated liquid oxygen was cause of fire ahead of Japan rocket launch, source says
A high concentration of liquid oxygen, used as rocket engine coolant, has been determined as being behind a fire that broke out earlier this month at a launchpad in southwestern Japan, an official close to the matter has said. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. had planned ...
Abe says Japan's ASDF may evolve into 'air and space' defense force
Referring to the 2020 plan for a space operation unit inside the ASDF, Abe said that it is “not a pipe dream” for Japan to have such combined forces.
Teams from Japan and overseas present ideas for space elevator at event in Fukushima
A two-day demonstration test for a space elevator it's hoped could link Earth and a space station in the future was completed in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Sunday. The test, the second of its kind, was organized by the Japan Space Elevator Association. It was ...
Scientists say newly discovered comet is likely to be an 'interstellar visitor'
A newly discovered comet hurtling toward the orbit of Mars has scientists scurrying to confirm whether it came from outside the solar system, a likely prospect that would make it the second such interstellar object observed in our planetary neighborhood. The trajectory of the comet, ...
A fire broke out near a rocket launch pad on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture early Wednesday, prompting the cancellation of an unmanned rocket launch scheduled for the same day to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, the operator said. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. ...
Japanese astronauts visit factory making 'Mobile Suit Gundam' models bound for space
Astronauts Soichi Noguchi and Norishige Kanai on Wednesday visited a factory making models of humanoid robots from the anime series "Mobile Suit Gundam" that are slated to be launched into space. The project is part of an effort by Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers and the ...
Japan seeks record ¥5.32 trillion defense budget with new focus on space and cyberspace
The ministry wants ¥52.4 billion to join the space race but ¥88 billion to start converting the Izumo into a conventional aircraft carrier and buy six stealth F-35Bs for it.
SpaceX's Mars rocket prototype rattles nearby residents in Texas test flight
SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company's Mars rocket on Tuesday, unnerving residents near the Texas site and clearing another key hurdle in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's interplanetary ambitions. After the launch, Musk congratulated engineers from SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., and ...
Japan eyes new defense unit to monitor space from ASDF base in west Tokyo
The Defense Ministry has decided to make a budget request for a new space monitoring unit to be set up in fiscal 2020 within its air forces, government sources said Wednesday. The unit, which is aimed at tracking space debris that poses a threat to ...
