Category Archives: Japan

Thursday / 9 June 2016

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Japan Kajima Corp. To Develop Machinery For Construction On Moon

LED-6-8-16

Fully Automated Construction Machinery On Moon, Mars For Building Long-Term Human Habitation Is Being Developed By Kajima Corporation, A Japan Industrial Services, Engineering and Construction Firm With Market Capitalization Of Almost US$8B; JAXA Selected The Project For The Space Exploration Innovation Hub; An Indoor Experiment Will Be Conducted NET April 2017 At JAXA Sagamihara Campus; Machinery Is Estimated To Be Ready To Build A Structure To Accommodate 4-6 People On The Moon By 2030

Credit: Kajima Corp., JAXA

Thursday / 2 June 2016

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3 International Lunar CubeSats To Join Orion/SLS On Cislunar Journey

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Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) First Test Flight Of New Space Launch System With Uncrewed Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle On 21-Day Circumlunar Trajectory NLT Nov 2018; Will Also Carry And Deploy 10 Other CubeSat Missions; Latest Announcement Introduces JAXA EQUULEUS (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft) And OMOTENASHI (Outstanding MOon exploration TEchnologies demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor), As Well As ASI / Agrotec ArgoMoon

Credit: NASA, JAXA, AIS / Argotec

Thursday / 19 May 2016

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Japan SLIM Moon Lander Advancing For 2018/2019 Launch

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JAXA Selects Mitsubishi Electric As Contractor For 1st Japan Lunar Lander Launching Fiscal Year 2019; Company To Work With JAXA, Several Japan Universities To Build 130-Kg Craft Capable Of Precision Landing, Goal To Improve Location Accuracy By Factor Of 10 Or More Over Similar Missions; Possible Destinations Scouted By Kaguya Include Vertical Shaft (Lava Tube Skylight?) 60m Diameter, 80m Deep; Total Project Budget JP¥18B (US$164M)

Credit: JAXA, Mitsubishi Electric

Friday / 18 December 2015

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JAXA Plans To Achieve Japan 1st Soft Landing On Moon In Fiscal Year 2018

JAXA SLIM NAOJ

Smart Lander For Investigating Moon (SLIM) Mission Hoping To Secure Funding FY2016 To Launch FY2018 On Japan Solid-Fuel Epsilon Rocket; Will Improve Landing Technology To Be Used On SELENE-2 (Orbiter, Lander, Rover) And Human Missions To Moon Proposed For 2025; SLIM May Land In Crater / Area Mapped By Kaguya (SELENE) With Support Of National Astronomical Observatories Of Japan (NAOJ); Commercial GLXP Team Hakuto Aiming To Launch Pair Of Rovers To Moon Mid-2017 Aboard Astrobotic Lander

Credit: JAXA, SELENE, NAOJ, Team Hakuto

Friday / 11 December 2015

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Japan To Develop Moon / Planetary Robots & Analog Test Site, Expected To Launch 2nd Epsilon Rocket 2016

JAXA SLIM Moon

JAXA To Partner With Domestic Companies To Create Robotic, Vehicle, Other Technologies For Human Missions To Moon (2030) & Mars (2040); Low-Cost (US$38M Per Launch) Epsilon Rocket 2nd Flight Planned For 2016, Will Enable ~$126M SLIM Moon Lander Mission Capable Of Landing Within 100 Meters Of Target Area In FY2018; SLIM Mission To Be Discussed At Galaxy Forum Japan 20 February 2016 At NAOJ Mitaka; New Online JAXA Hub Invites Information Exchange With Industries To Participate In Sustainable Moon / Planetary Activities

Pictured L-R: Yasuhiro Morita (Epsilon Program Manager), Yoshisada Takizawa & Susumu Sasaki (SELENE Project Managers)

Credit: JAXA, NASA

 

Thursday / 19 November 2015

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Lunar Mission Efforts Highlight Resurgent Desire To Touch The Moon

Moon Landers

GLXP Teams Working To Land On Moon In 2017, Some Plan To Establish Permanent Presence On Surface; China Chang’e-5 Sample Return To Launch 2017 & Chang’e-4 In 2018; JAXA Planning SLIM Lander 2018-19 & SELENE-2 In 2019; Russia Hopes For Luna-25 Probe To Land In Boguslavsky Crater / Moon South Pole 2018; Golden Spike Co. Developing Human Moon Missions 2020; South Korea Lander & Rover 2020; Chang’e-3 & LADEE Most Recent Missions To Touch Surface; 1990-2015 Lunar Lander / Impactors Detailed By SPC / ILOA

Credit: CCTV, CNSA, NAOC-CAS, Lavochkin Scientific Prod. Association, ME, GSC, JAXA

Friday / 13 November 2015

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Japan Proposing Moon Lander 2018-19,
Human Support Technologies ~2030

SLIM, JAXA Robot ISRU

JAXA Designing Smart Lander For Investigating Moon (SLIM) Mission, Hoping To Secure Funding Fiscal Year 2016 To Begin Developing Craft With Capability To Land Within 100 Meters Of Target; Would Launch Fiscal Year 2018 (Apr 2018 – Apr 2019) & Help Prepare For SELENE-2 & Human Missions; JAXA Prof Hitoshi Kuninaka Putting Together Plan For Robotic Technologies (Including Automobiles, ISRU) To Support Human Moon Bases ~2030, Mars Bases ~2040; Will Create Moon Analog Test Site At Sagamihara JAXA Campus

Credit: JAXA

Wednesday / 28 October 2015

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AngelicvM Joins GLXP Collaboration With Astrobotic & Hakuto

10282015Team Astrobotic To Carry Chile Team AngelicvM 5kg Rover ‘Uni’ On Mission To Moon; Japan Team Hakuto Also Sharing Cost Of Mission & Potential Prize; Astrobotic To Deploy Uni, 2 Hakuto Rovers & Its Own Andy Rover To Travel 500 Meters On Lunar Surface; Astrobotic CEO John Thornton States “Team AngelicvM Shares Our Vision Of Uniting And Inspiring Individuals To Look To The Moon As The Next Great Destination For Exploration And Discovery”; Astrobotic Goal To Fill Payload Space On Lander By Early 2016 With Inclusion Of Lunar Mission One, Mexican Space Agency & 1 Possible Other GLXP Team; Launch Proposed With SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket NET 2017

Credit: GLXP, Astrobotic, Hakuto, Tohoku University Research News of Engineering, Angelicvm

Wednesday / 19 August 2015

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GLXP Astrobotic Lands Commercial Clients For Lunar Missions

LED 081915Astrobotic Cites “Numerous Opportunities For Marketing On The Moon” When Contracted  To Deliver Japan Sports Drink Pocari Sweat Near Burg Crater Late 2016 For Undisclosed Sum; Future Rehydration With Lunar Water And Thirst-Quenching Enjoyment By Lunar Astronaut Expected; Time Capsule Container, Designed By Singapore’s Astroscale, Includes Messages And Music;  San Francisco Startup Elysium Space To Deliver Lunar Burial Services Via Astrobotic Griffin Lander; Founder Thomas Civeit Calls It An “Exceptional Tribute” 

Credit: Global Post, Astrobotic

Wednesday / 29 July 2015

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Further Details Of ESA Director’s Lunar Vision

7292015Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Director General Of  European Space Agency Clarifies His Vision “To Establish An Infrastructure On The Moon… To Do First-Class Fundamental Research”; International Research Station On Lunar Surface NET 2024 Should Serve As Next Foothold Of Human Expansion Into Solar System After ISS; Moon Focus Increasing ESA Collaboration With China, Russia, Japan & U.S. On Moon / Mars / Space Missions

Credit:  ESA, Foster + Partners