The Hayabusa2 sample return capsule returning to Earth. The bright streak in the sky is the capsule, shock heated as it enters the Earth's atmosphere. The bright lights on the ground are buildings. (JAXA) In the early hours of December 6, 2020, what appeared to be a shooting star blazed across the sky above the …
Sample Return from Mars Begins in Earnest
For the first time ever, a sample of pulverized rock from another planet has been drilled, collected and stored for eventual delivery to the highest-tech labs on Earth. Yes, a storehouse of rocks were collected on the moon by Apollo astronauts and delivered to Houston, and some small samples of two asteroids and one comet …
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Japan’s Mission to the Martian Moons Will Return a Sample From Phobos. What Makes This Moon So Exciting?
Artist impression of JAXA's MMX spacecraft around Mars (JAXA). Japan in planning to launch a mission to visit the two moons of Mars in 2024. The spacecraft will touchdown on the surface of Phobos, gathering a sample to bring back to Earth. But what is so important about a moon the size of a city? …
Phobos and Deimos: Captured Asteroids or Cut From Ancient Mars?
Illustration of Mars with its two moons, Phobos and Deimos. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ.) The global success rate for sending missions to land on the moons of Mars has hardly been impressive -- coming in at zero out of three attempts. They were all led by the Russian (or former Soviet) space agencies, …
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Phobos and Deimos: Captured Asteroids or Cut From Ancient Mars?
American attention regarding space missions is, not surprisingly, focused primarily on NASA missions. But there is a lot more exploration underway, and we should know about it. This is a guest column by Elizabeth Tasker, an Associate Professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, and whose book, "The Planet Factory", comes out in November …
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Many Worlds 