JAXA
Every Cosmic Herald story on JAXA — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
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Missions
Japan's MMX Mars Moons Sample-Return Probe Nears Its Oct. 19 Launch
JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft is set to launch on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima on Oct. 19. It aims to bring about 10 grams of Phobos back to Earth in 2031, carrying NASA hardware and a French-German rover along the way.
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Missions
Ramses Wakes Up: ESA-JAXA Apophis Spacecraft Powers On in Milan
ESA's Ramses spacecraft, built with JAXA, has had its Core Module computer and subsystems switched on for the first time in Milan, a milestone in a compressed schedule to launch by spring 2028 for Apophis' April 13, 2029 flyby.
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Missions
BepiColombo Sheds Its Ferry and Begins the Final Descent to Mercury
After an eight-year, 9.9-billion-kilometer journey and nine planetary flybys, BepiColombo jettisoned its transfer module on Sept. 3, 2026, starting the final approach to a Nov. 21 Mercury orbit insertion.
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Missions
Hayabusa2 Threads the Needle: A 5-Kilometer-Per-Second Flyby of Asteroid Torifune
On July 5, 2026, JAXA's Hayabusa2 extended mission buzzed near-Earth asteroid Torifune from roughly a kilometer away at 5 km/s, testing precision-guidance tech relevant to planetary defense ahead of its 2031 rendezvous with tiny asteroid 1998 KY26.
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Missions
BepiColombo is about to become the first new Mercury orbiter in 50 years
ESA and JAXA's joint BepiColombo mission spent six years threading through the inner solar system. Its arrival at Mercury orbit will answer questions about the planet's magnetic field and mysterious dark surface that MESSENGER couldn't fully resolve.
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Missions
After seven years of flying past planets, BepiColombo has finally reached Mercury
ESA and JAXA's BepiColombo mission spent seven years threading gravity assists around Earth, Venus, and Mercury before finally entering Mercury orbit in late 2025. Now its two orbiters are mapping the innermost planet's magnetic field, geology, and interior with unprecedented precision.
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Missions
Japan's veteran asteroid hunter lines up a 5-kilometer-per-second flyby
Years after returning samples from Ryugu, Japan's Hayabusa2 is still flying — and on July 5 it will scream past a 450-meter asteroid called Torifune at five kilometers per second, a rehearsal for the planetary-defense techniques of the future.
