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.
Space Exploration
Dec 24, 2020
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A Japanese spacecraft began its approach Thursday toward a distant asteroid on a mission to collect material that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.
Space Exploration
Feb 21, 2019
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A Japanese spacecraft is nearing Earth after a yearlong journey home from a distant asteroid with soil samples and data that could provide clues to the origins of the solar system, a space agency official said Friday.
Space Exploration
Nov 27, 2020
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Last month, China successfully landed and deployed the Zhurong rover on Mars, becoming the second country ever to set wheels on the surface of the red planet.
Space Exploration
Jun 16, 2021
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On 21 September 2018, 280 million km from Earth, a roughly 1.5 square-metre cube descended towards a primitive space rock. After years of planning and 4 years in flight, this tiny spacecraft captured this 'shadow selfie' ...
Space Exploration
Sep 27, 2018
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Japanese space scientists are on the hunt for a new name for an asteroid that may contain the secret of life, with a public competition beginning Wednesday.
Space Exploration
Jul 22, 2015
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Kenji Toma (Osaka Univ.), Shinji Mukohyama (Kavli IPMU, Univ. of Tokyo), Daisuke Yonetoku (Kanazawa Univ.) and their colleagues have used the photon polarization in three distant gamma-ray bursts detected by Japanese spacecraft ...
General Physics
Dec 7, 2012
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Final preparations were underway Friday for the launch of a joint mission by European and Japanese space agencies to send twin probes to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
Space Exploration
Oct 19, 2018
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An Japanese spacecraft which has journeyed to an asteroid is expected to return to Earth at a remote site in the Australian outback in June, the government said Wednesday.
Space Exploration
Apr 21, 2010
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In 2010, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa completed an exciting although nail-biting mission to the asteroid Itokawa, successfully returning samples to Earth after first reaching the asteroid in 2005; the mission almost failed, ...
Space Exploration
Feb 1, 2012
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