Japan’s SLIM robotic spacecraft entered lunar orbit Dec. 25, setting up a moon landing attempt scheduled for Jan. 19. SLIM completed a roughly three-minute-long lunar orbit insertion burn at 2:51 a.m. Eastern (0751 UTC), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Christmas Day. SLIM is now in a 600 x 4,000-kilometer polar lunar orbit, as planned. The spacecraft is currently in a normal condition, JAXA stated. It will soon begin gradually lowering its orbit in preparation for landing. The landing attempt is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern (1500 UTC) Jan. 19, landing around 20 minutes later. The lander will aim to set down within a 100 meters of its target point on the slope of the mid-latitude Shioli crater. SLIM launched Sept. 6 on a H-2A rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center along with the XRISM space telescope. SLIM spacecraft entered low Earth orbit and began a series of orbit-raising maneuvers as part of its circuitous voyage to the moon. It made a translunar injection burn Sept. 30, making a lunar flyby Oct. 4. This set the spacecraft on a long, looping, propellant-saving journey to the moon, leading to lunar orbit insertion on Christmas Day. SLIM will next gradually lower its apolune, or farthest point from the moon, and enter a circular orbit at an approximately 600-kilometer-altitude in mid-January, according to JAXA.
Perilune will then be lowered, reaching a 15-km-altitude orbit Jan. 19 Japan time, ready for the Jan. 19 landing. SLIM will begin to decelerate from a speed of around 1,700 meters per second at that point.
Five crushable, 3D-printed aluminum lattice landing legs will help the lander absorb the of impact of touch down and settle on the sloped rim of the 300-meters-wide Shioli crater.
A successful SLIM landing would make Japan the fifth country to soft land on the moon. In August India became the fourth nation to achieve the feat with its high latitude Chandrayaan-3 mission landing.
The main objective of SLIM is to demonstrate a highly-accurate lunar soft-landing with a lightweight architecture. It will use a vision-based navigation system and carries observational data from Japan’s SELENE orbiter launched in 2007. This system will be used to identify its landing zone during its autonomous descent and landing. It also carries a laser range finder for the final stages of descent.
Beyond the landing attempt itself, the spacecraft is designed to spend the remainder of the lunar day on the surface conducting experiments. SLIM carries a Multi-Band Camera (MBC) to assess the composition of Shioli crater by analyzing the spectra of sunlight reflected off its surface. Teams are particularly looking for the presence of the mineral olivine, which may have been ejected from beneath the moon’s crust.
SLIM is also carrying a pair of small, innovative rovers. Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 (LEV-1) uses a hopping mechanism, while LEV-2 is a baseball-sized, spherical rover. Both carry cameras and science payloads.
The mission could lead to lower cost exploration efforts in the future, according to JAXA. The accuracy of landings will be useful for accessing areas of high scientific interest instead of more general, safer landing zones.
The spacecraft has a dry mass of 200 kilograms and 700-730 kg wet mass at launch. The expected development cost was 18 billion yen ($120 million).
Controllers lost contact with a lunar lander developed by a Japanese company moments before its scheduled touchdown, raising fears the spacecraft crashed during its final descent. The HAKUTO-R M1 lunar lander, developed by Tokyo-based ispace, was scheduled to land at 12:40 p.m. Eastern April 25 in the vicinity of Atlas Crater on the moon. The lander was in communications with controllers during its powered descent, based on telemetry displayed on the company’s webcast. However, that telemetry appeared to switch from live data to a simulation less than 30 seconds before landing, when the spacecraft was still about 80 meters above the surface, traveling at more than 30 kilometers per hour. There was no confirmation of the landing itself or any signals from the lander after touchdown. More than 25 minutes after the scheduled touchdown, the company appeared to acknowledge that the landing had failed. “At this moment, we have not been able to confirm a successful landing on the lunar surface,” said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace. He said controllers had been in contact with the spacecraft until the “very end” of the landing process. “However, now we’ve lost the communication,” he said. “So, we have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface.” The lander was carrying a set of payloads for both companies and governments. Among them is Rashid, a small lunar rover developed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in the United Arab Emirates, and a “transformable lunar robot” the size of a baseball from Japan’s space agency JAXA. Other payloads include cameras and technology demonstrations.
Telemetry from the final phases of the HAKUTO-R M1 landing, just before contact was lost in the final seconds before touchdown. Credit: ispace webcast
The lander launched on a Falcon 9 Dec. 11, placing it on a low-energy ballistic trajectory that took it as far as 1.4 million kilometers from the Earth before returning to the vicinity of the moon, going into an elliptical orbit around the moon March 20.
After achieving its initial orbit of 100 by 6,000 kilometers, the spacecraft maneuvered to lower its orbit, reaching a circular orbit at an altitude of 100 kilometers by April 14. Around that time, ispace announced plans for the April 25 landing attempt.
The company reported only minor issues with the spacecraft during its transit to the moon. “We have been operating our lander as well as expected so far, without any critical issues,” Hakamada said during a Feb. 27 briefing. There had been anomalies with the lander’s thermal control system and computers, but the company said it was able to resolve those problems.
The company is working on a second lander, M2, similar in design to M1 that is scheduled for launch in late 2024. It will carry a set of customer payloads as well as a “micro rover” that ispace developed. That rover will collect a regolith sample that will be transferred to NASA under a 2020 contract awarded to ispace’s European subsidiary.
Company officials said in February that they did not anticipate making significant changes in the design of M2, having already incorporated lessons learned from the development of the M1 lander into M2. The company’s U.S. subsidiary is working on a larger lander, Series 2, for a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission led by Draper scheduled for 2025.
Hakamada, in the post-landing comments, said the data collected during the M1 landing attempt would be helpful for those two future missions. “That’s why we built a sustainable business model to continue our effort for the future missions.”
Since the launch of M1, shares in ispace started trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, an exchanged reserved for smaller, higher-risk companies. The shares started trading April 13 at 254 yen ($1.90) and soared in subsequent days. Shares closed April 25, before the landing, at 1,990 yen.
Japan’s space agency JAXA aborted the long-awaited first launch of H3 rocket Feb. 16, when the rocket’s side boosters failed to ignite after main engine start. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for Japan’s years-long efforts to develop a more capable and cost-effective alternative to the nation’s current workhorse, H-2A. Live footage showed the 63-meter expendable rocket, decorated with Japan’s national flag on the core stage with two strap-on side boosters attached, standing idle at the seafront launch pad of Tanegashima Space Center when the countdown was over. “The main engine was ignited, but side boosters were not,” said the range control center, shortly after the rocket’s pre-announced launch window of 8:37-8:44 p.m. Eastern. “It is expected that it would probably take longer to examine the situation. The status of launch vehicle Test Flight No.1 will be announced to all launch operators as soon as it will be confirmed.” JAXA also left a short notice on its website: “Further information will be updated on the JAXA website.” The agency didn’t elaborate on what happened. It’s also not known yet how the agency will examine the issue — after rolling back the rocket to the hangar or at the launch pad. The planned launch was initially targeted for Feb. 14, but bad weather caused a two-day delay. Aboard the rocket was Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), a 3-ton optical imaging satellite, built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which will follow in the footsteps of the original Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS). ALOS was launched in 2006 onboard an H2A and declared dead in orbit in April 2011. ALOS-2 is still operating after being launched in May 2014.
Japan’s journey to develop H3 was long and winding. JAXA began developing H3 in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in 2014. It is meant to replace H-2A that has been operational since August 2001 with a new one with “high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost-performance.”
The rocket’s inaugural launch was originally scheduled for March 2021, but was pushed back by around two years due to issues with the newly developed LE-9 first-stage engine.
The problems were first uncovered during qualifications testing in May 2020, which included cracked turbine blades in the LE-9’s turbopump assembly and a hole seared into its combustion chamber wall. To fix these, JAXA and MHI had to redesign the engine’s fuel turbopump and apply those same changes to the engine’s oxygen turbopump.
H3’s four variants
There are four variants of the H3 rocket, each in a unique configuration of LE-9 engines and side-mounted solid rocket boosters. The rocket can fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits. Depending on the version of the rocket, it can place a payload of at least 4 tons into a sun synchronous orbit (SSO), with a maximum capacity of 6.5 tons into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). It’s a significant improvement from H-2A’s capacity of 3.8 tons to SSO and 4 tons to GTO. Future upgrades could make it possible for the rocket to deliver cargo to the moon, including the planned lunar Gateway that NASA is pursuing in cooperation with JAXA, the European Space Agency and others.
Japan’s new H3 rocket is designed to fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits. Credit: JAXA
The H3 rocket’s LE-9 is not only a more powerful engine than H-2A’s LE-7. It also employs a novel design, called an expander bleed cycle, that Mitsubishi was the first to introduce with its LE-5A upper stage engine. In addition, the H3 stands to be the first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle engine for its first stage, a design choice meant to yield higher engine thrust at the expense of efficiency.
On the price front, the launch cost of the H3 is reportedly around $50 million, half that of the H-2A.
Meanwhile, Japan has launched one orbital mission so far this year: a H-2A successfully delivered Japan’s IGS Radar 7 surveillance satellite to orbit on Jan. 25.
The Japanese government has formally agreed to extend its participation on the International Space Station through 2030 and provide components for the lunar Gateway. In a virtual ceremony Nov. 17, NASA and Japanese government officials signed an agreement outlining the roles that Japan will provide in the Gateway, including components for several modules and a cargo resupply mission. NASA, in turn, will fly a Japanese astronaut to the Gateway on a future Artemis mission. In addition to the Gateway agreement, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Keiko Nagaoka announced that the Japanese government had confirmed its intent to participate on the ISS through 2030, joining the United States in extending ISS operations beyond 2024. “The United States welcomes Japan’s intention to extend its support of International Space Station (ISS) operations through 2030, following the United States’ announcement of our ISS extension one year ago,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. “In addition, our two countries are taking a step forward by reaching an agreement on collaboration on the Lunar Gateway orbiting platform, which will pave the way for the return of humanity to the Moon.” The new Gateway agreement updates one announced in January 2021. As with the earlier agreement, the Japanese space agency JAXA will provide the life support system, thermal controls, camera and batteries for the International Habitation, or I-Hab, module, being developed in cooperation with the European Space Agency. JAXA will also provide batteries for ESA’s European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunication (ESPRIT) refueling module and NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module.
NASA's Orion spacecraft approaching the lunar Gateway. Japan agreed to provide components for Gateway modules and a cargo resupply flight in exchange for one astronaut mission to the outpost. Credit: NASA/Alberto Bertolin
Japan will develop a version of its HTV-X cargo spacecraft, called HTV-XG, to deliver supplies to the Gateway. NASA said the agreement includes a single mission to the Gateway no later than 2030.
In return, NASA said a JAXA astronaut will be included as part of the crew of a mission to the Gateway, but did not specify when that person would fly. In the January 2021 agreement, NASA only agreed to an “intent” to find flight opportunities for Japanese astronauts that would be finalized and documented in a later agreement.
“Today’s Gateway agreement represents the fulfillment commitments made by the Biden-Harris Administration and solidifies our nations’ collaboration, which will help ensure continued discoveries on Gateway, the International Space Station, and beyond,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the statement. He signed the agreement on the behalf of the agency from the Kennedy Space Center, while Nagaoka signed the agreement from Tokyo.
NASA previously coordinated agreements with Canada and ESA for their Gateway contributions. Canada, which is providing a robotic arm for the Gateway, will fly an astronaut on the first crewed Orion flight, Artemis 2, along with a later Gateway mission. ESA will have three seats on Artemis missions, likely including the Artemis 4 and 5 missions that will deliver the I-Hab and ESPRIT modules to the Gateway.
While the Gateway agreement covers only a single astronaut flight, Nagaoka said in a MEXT statement that the country will still seeking to land a Japanese astronaut on the moon as the first non-American astronaut “by the latter half of the 2020s.”
NASA said that Japan’s announcement of its extension of ISS operations makes it only the second country, after the United States, to agree to participating on the ISS beyond 2024. Both Canada and ESA have indicated their willing to do so as well. Russia, despite comments this summer that it might leave the ISS partnership after 2024, is likely to remain a part at least until the late 2020s.
The Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft listened to the sound of the solar wind at Venus as it flew just 340 miles (550 kilometers) above the planet's surface during a maneuver designed to adjust its path. BepiColombo, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), recorded the audio with its magnetometer instrument, providing a rare glimpse into the interaction between the stream of charged particles flowing from the sun, known as solar wind, and the thick carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere of Earth's closest planetary neighbor. The audio is not the actual sound that could be heard in space but a so-called sonification, a translation of data into sounds, ESA said in a statement. BepiColombo passed by Venus on Aug. 10, just one day after another inner-solar-system explorer, Solar Orbiter, made its own close approach. This coincidence enabled scientists for the first time to make measurements of the environment around Venus from multiple points. Solar Orbiter, a joint mission by ESA and NASA, has a similar magnetometer in its instrument suite as BepiColombo. It has made its own measurements of the interactions between the solar wind and the planet as it zipped by at a distance of nearly 5,000 miles (8,000 km) on Aug. 9. Flybys are a common maneuver used by spacecraft operators to adjust the trajectory of a spacecraft. By flying close to a planet or another celestial body with a strong gravitational pull, the spacecraft loses or gains energy, which helps "slingshot" it toward its destination in the most fuel-efficient way.
The European/Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo has taken a selfie with Venus during its close flyby at the planet in August 2021. (Image credit: ESA)
Researchers are still analysing the data gathered by both spacecraft and hope that the Japanese mission Akatsuki, the only orbiter currently studying Venus, could contribute as well.
"This was the first time we could obtain such multi-dimensional measurements of the environment around Venus," Johannes Benkhoff, ESA BepiColombo project scientist, told Space.com. "That could enable us to see, for example, how the solar wind interacts with the planet and its atmosphere and how fast the processes are."
Mercury-bound BepiColombo has performed two flybys at Venus during its seven-year cruise to Mercury. (Image credit: ESA)
A detailed look at the composition of the atmosphere
BepiColombo could provide especially valuable data as the spacecraft swung closer to the surface of Venus during this flyby than Akatsuki gets at the closest point in its orbit around Venus.
According to Benkhoff, BepiColombo's Mercury Radiometer and Thermal infrared Imaging Spectrometer (MERTIS) instrument could therefore make unprecedented measurements of the middle layers of Venus's thick and cloudy atmosphere, known for its out-of-control greenhouse effect.
"We can look for carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and other aerosols, which has not been done with this type of instrument before," Benkhoff said. "There hasn't been a European mission to Venus since Venus Express [which lost contact with Earth in 2014]. We hope to make some measurements with BepiColombo that could be compared to the Venus Express measurements to see how things have changed."
For example, Benkhoff added, changes in concentrations of sulfur dioxide could indicate changes in the volcanic activity on the planet's surface.
ESA said in the statement that the MERTIS instrument captured high-resolution spectra of the atmosphere of Venus that are similar to those obtained by the early 1980s Soviet Venera 15 mission. No other spacecraft has made such detailed measurements since, ESA said.
An artist impression of BepiColombo flying by Venus on Aug. 10, 2021. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)
Finding life on Venus?
There has been a revival in the interest in Venus following last year's surprising indications that the boiling planet might harbor life.
In September 2020 a team of scientists from the U.K. announced that they had detected phosphines, organic compounds that are usually produced by bacteria, in the planet's sulfur-rich clouds. The conclusions were based on measurements obtained by Earth-based telescopes. This year, however, a study co-authored by astrobiologist Chris McKay, of the NASA Ames Research Center in California, concluded that the amount of water in the atmosphere of Venus is so low that it is impossible for any life to exist there.
Benkhoff said that BepiColombo is unlikely to solve the ongoing dispute, even though it will look for phosphines in the atmosphere.
"Our MERTIS instrument is in principle able to detect phosphines," Benkhoff said. "But we don't think that it is sensitive enough to detect the low amounts that are expected at Venus."
Getting ready for Mercury
The Aug. 9 flyby was the third of the overall nine required for BepiColombo to approach Mercury in the right way so that it can insert its two orbiters, the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, into their correct orbits.
The innermost planet of the solar system is notoriously difficult to reach as the spacecraft has to continuously brake against the gravitational pull of the sun. For BepiColombo, this braking is achieved with the help of the gravity-assist flybys.
BepiColombo performed its first flyby at Earth in April 2020. Six months later, it made its first visit to Venus, passing at a much greater distance of 6,650 miles (10,700 km). On Oct. 1, the spacecraft will take its first look at Mercury from a distance of merely 125 miles (200 km). There will be five additional Mercury flybys to prepare BepiColombo for entering the planet's orbit in 2025.
The close Venus flyby, Benkhoff said, provided the first opportunity to test the spacecraft's instruments at a distance at which they will operate at Mercury.
"Our instruments were designed for orbiting Mercury at 400 to 1,500 kilometers," or 250 to 930 miles, Benkhoff said. "This Venus flyby provided us with the perfect opportunity to prepare not only for the mission but also for the upcoming first Mercury flyby."
BepiColombo has captured a sequence of photographs during the Venus flyby, which were released by ESA as a short video. The images were obtained by three low resolution 'selfie cameras' mounted on BepiColombo's propulsion module. The high albedo, or reflectiveness. of Venus, however, made it impossible for the cameras to capture any details of the planet's clouds.
The much darker Mercury, which lacks an atmosphere, will present a better photo opportunity, Benkhoff suggested.
"Venus was unfortunately quite overexposed in the images," Benkhoff said. "But we hope that at Mercury, even the selfie cameras might be able to identify some structures on the surface of the planet."
BepiColombo is fitted with a high-resolution stereoscopic camera, but that cannot be used during the cruise phase because of the spacecraft’s configuration in transit. The two orbiters and the propulsion module are stacked on top of each other, which blocks some of the instruments.
The October Mercury flyby will mark the first occasion any spacecraft will have visited the smallest and innermost planet of the solar system since the demise of the NASA mission Messenger in 2015.
The TAU-SAT1 nanosatellite, approximately the size of a shoebox, is currently undergoing pre-flight testing at the Japanese space agency JAXA prior to a planned launch by NASA in the first quarter of 2021. TAU-SAT1 was entirely devised, developed, assembled, and tested at Tel Aviv University's Nanosatellite Center, an interdisciplinary endeavor of the University's Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, and Porter School of Environmental Studies. "TAU-SAT1 is the first nanosatellite designed, built and tested in an Israeli university, and the entire process, from conception through design, software development and testing, was done at TAU," explains Dr. Ofer Amrani, head of TAU's minisatellite lab. While other universities in Israel, including The Technion, Ben-Gurion University, and Ariel University, are investing in similar space projects, the TAU satellite will be the first to enter the Earth's orbit. TAU-SAT1 is a research satellite and will conduct several experiments while in orbit, including the measurement of cosmic radiation in space. "We know that that there are high-energy particles moving through space that originate from cosmic radiation," says Dr. Meir Ariel, director of the University's Nanosatellite Center. "Our scientific task is to monitor this radiation, and to measure the flux of these particles and their products. To this end, we incorporated a number of experiments into the satellite, which were developed by the Space Environment Department at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center."
One challenge was to extract the data collected by the TAU-SAT1 satellite. The satellite will complete an orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes. "In order to collect data, we built a satellite station on the roof of the engineering building," says Dr. Amrani. "Our station, which also serves as an amateur radio station, includes a number of antennas and an automated control system. When TAU-SAT1 passes over Israel, the antennas will track the satellite's orbit and a process of data transmission will occur between the satellite and the station."
The satellite is expected to be active for several months. Because it has no engine, its trajectory will fade over time as the result of atmospheric drag. It will eventually burn up in the atmosphere and return to the Earth as dust.
The launch of the TAU-SAT1 nanosatellite is just TAU's first step on its way to joining the "new space" revolution, Dr. Amrani says.
"The idea behind the new space revolution is to open space up to civilians as well. In the not-too-distant past, satellites involved a very expensive development process that took many years and required the involvement of large and cumbersome governmental systems. We were able to complete the planning, building, and testing of our own satellite in less than two years.
"Moreover, we built the infrastructure on our own - from the cleanrooms, to the various testing facilities such as the thermal vacuum chamber, to the receiving and transmission station we placed on the roof. Now that the infrastructure is ready, we can begin to develop TAU-SAT2.
"The idea is that any researcher and any student, from any faculty at TAU or outside of it, will be able to plan and launch experiments into space in the future - even without being an expert in the field," Dr. Amrani concludes.
A Japanese cargo spacecraft loaded with experiment hardware, supplies and spare parts is scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan to the International Space Station at 1:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 20 (2:30 a.m. May 21 in Japan). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) unpiloted H-II Transport Vehicle-9 (HTV-9) carries investigations testing a new livestreaming educational tool, microscope and telescope. Here are details about some of the scientific investigations and facilities heading to the orbiting lab on HTV-9. Coming to you live and interactive from space. A broadcasting studio is opening up in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), also known as Kibo. The JAXA-sponsored education-focused experiment known as THE SPACE FRONTIER STUDIO - KIBO enables new livestreaming capabilities on station. Terminals set up next to a window overlooking Earth in the JEM module are to be used for communication. The first round of demonstrations of the technology are set to occur this summer, testing out two-way livestreaming that allows people on the ground to communicate with the astronauts. Looking back at Earth. Rather than looking out at the stars, this telescope points at our planet. The integrated Standard Imager for Microsatellites (iSIM), a very high-resolution optical binocular telescope developed by Spanish company SATLANTIS MICROSATS S.L., takes images of Earth at less than one meter of resolution. A combination of technologies including optics, mechanics, electronics and artificial intelligence algorithms achieves a high spatial resolution at significantly lower cost compared with traditional imaging systems of similar performance.
This experiment demonstrates the technology and its functionality in the low-Earth orbit environment. The prototype is mounted to the JAXA External Facility platform on the space station, which provides sample environment and operational conditions for testing the device.
A clearer picture of biology in microgravity The Confocal Space Microscope (Confocal Microscope) is a JAXA facility launching on HTV-9 that enables fluorescence live imaging of biological samples aboard the station. Confocal microscopy eliminates out-of-focus light or glare in specimens whose thickness is greater than the immediate plane of focus.
The microscope can produce data on the fundamental nature of cellular and tissue structure and functions in real-time. When combined with the heating chamber system, the microscope enables long term 3D observation of living cells. While biological experiments are the first area of concentration, the microscope could be used for chemical studies as well.
Other investigations aboard the space station also have been exploring new types of microscopy in microgravity, including FLUMIAS-DEA, which observed samples of fixed cells and live cells using a miniaturized fluorescence microscope.
For daily updates, follow @ISS_Research, Space Station Research and Technology News or our Facebook. Follow the ISS National Lab for information on its sponsored investigations. For opportunities to see the space station pass over your town, check out Spot the Station.
As it looks to return to the Moon, NASA is open to the idea of international participation, which could mean a non-American setting foot on Earth's natural satellite for the first time in history, global space chiefs said Monday. "I think there's lots of room on the Moon, and we need all our international partners to go with us to the Moon," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters at the 70th International Astronautical Congress held in Washington. "If we can come to agreements on the contributions of all the nations and how they're going to be a part of the architecture, then certainly I would, I would see that there'd be no reason we can't have all of our international partners with us on the Moon," he added. The Americans are developing a spacecraft (Orion) and a mini space station (Gateway) that will remain in lunar orbit, which will in theory be used for a first crewed mission in 2024, Artemis 3. Only one element of the mission will be produced outside the US: the Orion service module that will supply it with electricity, propulsion, thermal control, air and water in space and is being delivered by the European Space Agency (ESA). Only once the Gateway is expanded will non-Americans be able to make the journey too. "We are in discussion also with NASA, so that we have European astronauts on the surface of the Moon -- this is of course the European intention," said Jan Worner, head of the ESA, at the same press conference. "2024 is for sure something which is purely American," he later told AFP. For Europeans, it could be "2027, 2028, something like that."
For its part, Japan also wants to take advantage of the new US program to write a new chapter in its own history.
"It's a very simple question to me because JAXA would like to send Japanese astronauts to the surface of the Moon," said Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The building of the ISS in the late 1990s and 2000s appeared to usher in a new era of space cooperation between the US and Russia following the Cold War, but this time around, Washington is in no mood to work with geopolitical rivals.
Specifically, the US Congress has explicitly prohibited any cooperation with China, the world's biggest economy and an emerging space power.
During his speech inaugurating the weeklong conference, Vice President Mike Pence repeated seven times that the US wanted to work with "freedom-loving nations."
Japan's space agency on Monday launched a rocket carrying a satellite that will monitor greenhouse gases, as well as the first satellite built entirely in the United Arab Emirates. The nation's H-IIA rocket lifted off Monday afternoon at 1:08 pm (0308 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Centre, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). About 16 minutes later, it sent a Japanese satellite nicknamed Ibuki-2 into orbit. The satellite is officially named GOSAT-2, short for "greenhouse gases observing satellite-2", and is intended to provide data that will help Japan create and publish "emission inventories" of the CO2 output of various countries, as outlined in the Paris climate accord. The satellite will also make precision observations of methane and other gases.The Japanese rocket also released "KhalifaSat", the first satellite built entirely in the UAE by local engineers. "The launch of KhalifaSat is an unprecedented Emirati achievement," Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed said in a tweet."Our dreams to embrace space have become a reality." Five other smaller satellites are scheduled to be released from the Japanese rocket.
Japan's space agency and its private partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries see the international satellite launch market as a possible revenue stream.
Known since Antiquity, Mercury has not yet delivered all its secrets. The international mission BepiColombo, scheduled to launch in the coming days, will study the planet's surface and compare its magnetic field with that of the Earth. Apart from Earth, Mercury is the only terrestrial planet with its own magnetic field, and yet it has only been visited by two space missions so far. This is indeed no easy task: because it is so close to the Sun, a spacecraft that misses the Swift Planet's weak gravitational field will inevitably plunge towards the solar surface, heated to a fiery 5,500 C. The European and Japanese space agencies, ESA and JAXA, have therefore worked in close collaboration to ensure BepiColombo's success. The mission, which comprises two orbiters, is scheduled to launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on the night of 19-20 October aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. After a seven-year journey and two flybys of Venus to benefit from a gravity assist, it will then survey Mercury's surface, atmosphere, and magnetosphere for two years, until 2027. In the 1970s, during a mission mainly focused on Venus, the American spacecraft Mariner 10 carried out three flybys of Mercury. One of the researchers involved was a professor at the University of Padua, Italy, called Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo. The new spacecraft, the very first collaboration between ESA and JAXA, was named after him.
During the brief flybys, Mariner 10 was able to map half of Mercury and detect its magnetic field. Although it is much weaker than Earth's, it shows that the core of the planet is still active. Mariner 10 also confirmed the presence of an exosphere, an extremely tenuous atmosphere extending to very high altitudes.
Many years later, NASA launched the MESSENGER spacecraft. Placed in orbit around Mercury in March 2011, it crashed onto its surface in April 2015 when it ran out of fuel. It confirmed Mariner 10's observations and carried out further mapping and surveys of the surface. In particular, MESSENGER discovered evidence not only of volcanic activity and plate tectonics, but also of water ice: due to Mercury's extremely small axial tilt, no direct sunlight ever reaches the bottom of impact craters at the poles.
"Although MESSENGER carried a magnetometer and equipment to measure ions and energetic particles, the spacecraft's main mission was to survey the planet, its thin atmosphere and its surface," explains Dominique Delcourt, CNRS senior researcher and director of the LPC2E, in charge of the ion mass spectrometer on board BepiColombo's Japanese-designed orbiter, MMO. "In the presence of an intrinsic magnetic field, a magnetic cavity forms in space. This is called the magnetosphere, where many particle transport and acceleration processes take place."
One Mission, Two Orbiters
The BepiColombo mission comprises two orbiters carrying a science payload of nearly 100 kilograms. The first one, MPO (Bepi), will be dedicated to fully mapping the planet and studying its surface, internal structure, and exosphere, while the second, MMO (renamed Mio), will study its magnetic environment. Once at their destination, Mio will be released first, followed by Bepi, which will be placed into the lowest orbit ever achieved around Mercury.
Delcourt is upbeat: "This wider array of instruments will enable us to not only make new discoveries, but also review MESSENGER's data. By combining observations from both orbiters, we will also be in a position to perform what you might call stereoscopic measurements, something that was previously impossible."
The MMO orbiter will complete one rotation in just four seconds, enabling its instruments to point in all directions in space in search of neutral or ionized particles and electromagnetic waves. With a higher resolution than the MESSENGER instrument, the MSA ion spectrometer, developed at the LPP in collaboration with Japanese and German teams, can distinguish between heavy atoms only one atomic mass unit apart, such as potassium and calcium.
"These measurements will enable us to characterize ejected planetary material," says Delcourt. "As a result of meteorite bombardment and the solar wind, matter is ejected from the surface of Mercury. It can then be ionized by the Sun's ultraviolet radiation, and transported and accelerated around the planet." By studying these ions, it will be possible to analyze the composition of the surface without having to land on it.
A Model Magnetic Field
The magnetic field of Mercury is also an interesting generic model. Observing a magnetosphere that is smaller than ours should improve our understanding of the behavior of both neutral and ionized matter in space.
At such a short distance from the Sun, the density of the solar wind means that it has a greater impact on the planet. Another interesting factor is that Mercury's highly elliptical orbit causes significant cyclical variations in this exposure. As a result, BepiColombo's various scientific instruments are likely to be kept extremely busy. Six of them were designed with the participation of eight CNRS laboratories, including the LPC2E, the IAS, IPGP, the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), the LAM], LATMOS, LESIA, and LPP.
At the LATMOS, Eric Quemerais is the lead scientist for PHEBUS. This ultraviolet spectrometer scans frequencies ranging from 50 to 320 nanometers, as well as a few lines used to detect calcium and potassium.
Analyzing Mercury's Surface
"We cover a wider spectral range that includes elements that were invisible to MESSENGER, such as helium, sulfur, ionized calcium, dihydrogen, etc.," Quemerais explains. "Thanks to a better signal-to-noise ratio, we also have an improved detection limit."
And whereas the American spectrometer was aligned with its probe, PHEBUS has an independent pointing mechanism. This allows it to choose its direction and provides better spatial and temporal coverage in orbit. "The exosphere gives an idea of the composition of Mercury's surface and of its outermost layers," Quemerais adds.
"For instance, we know that we will detect calcium and sodium, but we also expect to find magnesium, potassium, and oxygen, whose presence has not yet been systematically confirmed."
Another advantage of ultraviolet light is that it reflects off ice in a different way, which means that PHEBUS will be able to spot any water ice present. "This technique has already been employed on the Moon," says Quemerais. "We will use these changes in the amount of reflected light to map Mercury's two poles." Because of its specific orbit, selected so that it could survey the North Pole, MESSENGER was only able to map half the planet.
BepiColombo thus promises to provide the scientific community with a wealth of new data. In June 2020 in Orleans (central France), Delcourt will be organizing the next important conference dedicated to the Swift Planet.
"Of course, BepiColombo won't have reached its destination by then, but we will nonetheless be able to make use of MESSENGER's data," he explains. No doubt the scientists at that time will have their sights set on Venus, which Bepi Colombo will be about to swing past, propelled on its way to Mercury, its final destination.
The international BepiColombo spacecraft will soon take flight, on a complex journey to the innermost planet of the Solar System, Mercury. Encompassing nine planetary flybys and travelling a total distance of nine billion km over a period of seven years, this will be one of the most intricate journeys ever flown by mission teams at ESA's ESOC mission control centre. With launch set for 20 October, flight controllers led by Operations Manager Elsa Montagnon are now busily preparing for the start of what will be Europe's first mission to Mercury - the smallest and least explored terrestrial planet of the Solar System. "Mission teams have spent months simulating BepiColombo's unique and complex journey," explains Elsa. "Taking turns, in 12-hour shifts, we have been practising the spacecraft's various launch and early mission processes and manoeuvres in real-time so we are prepared for every possible eventuality." BepiColombo is a joint mission between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission comprises two science orbiters: ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will carry the orbiters to Mercury using a combination of solar electric propulsion and gravity assist flybys.
After its arrival at the planet of extremes in 2025, it will spend at least a year in orbit gathering data on Mercury's composition, density, magnetic field and exosphere, as well as probing the planet's interaction with solar wind.
Before the science begins, however, the multi-module spacecraft has to safely escape Earth, switch on, and receive instructions from mission control on where to go next.
A rocky road
Europe's space scientists have identified BepiColombo as one of the most challenging long-term planetary projects ever flown, as Mercury's proximity to the Sun makes it difficult for spacecraft to reach without being pulled into the star's enormous gravity.
"To get to Mercury without being subsumed by our giant star, the spacecraft will make a series of nine planetary flybys; circling Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury itself six times," explains Andrea Accomazzo, Flight Director for BepiColombo.
"Unlike missions that take spacecraft to the outer regions of the Solar System, the Mercury Transfer Module will use the gravity of these inner planets, in combination with the thrust provided by electric propulsion, to slow the spacecraft down."
The Sun's huge gravity field acts as an enormous gravity 'well'. Getting a spacecraft to Mercury, and therefore close to the Sun, means dropping it into this steep well - the difficulty comes in ensuring the spacecraft ends up at Mercury and not at our gigantic star.
"The closer we get to the Sun the more we are constricted in our path," explains Frank Budnik from the Flight Dynamics team.
"For example, BepiColombo's large solar arrays need to be tilted at just the right angle to get enough sunlight to power the high-energy demand of the propulsion system and keeping the spacecraft running. At the same time, they mustn't get too much sunlight, or they could be beyond their limits."
"There is only a small corridor in which the solar arrays can be operated to fulfil both of these constraints."
BepiColombo will launch at 01:45 GMT (03:45 CEST) on 20 October, on board an Ariane 5 rocket. After the spacecraft separates from the rocket's 'upper stage', teams at ESOC will take control, sending commands to the spacecraft to get it into normal operational mode - a process that is expected to take about four days.
This period, dubbed the 'Launch and Early Orbit Phase' (LEOP), sees the control systems and instruments switched on, and their health and proper functioning assessed.
This is a risky time when the satellite is unusually vulnerable - not yet fully functional but still exposed to the hazards of space.
Simulating the scene
In preparation for this vital period, mission control teams have spent months simulating every expected scenario - the perfect LEOP, launch and separation of the satellite from the launcher, as well as a whole host of scenarios in which something goes wrong.
Establishing contact between the spacecraft and mission controllers has also been rehearsed.
Deep space ground stations across three continents will support this mission, with ESA's global antenna network maintaining links to and from BepiColombo throughout the journey.
"BepiColombo is one of the world's most ambitious interplanetary missions, and it could not be in safer hands," says Rolf Densing, Director of Operations at ESOC.
"With decades of collective experience and hundreds of hours of simulation practice, teams at ESA's mission control are ready to set out for the rocky planet."
The European Space Agency (ESA) has commissioned Airbus for two studies for possible European involvement in the future human base in lunar orbit. The Gateway, previously known as the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) or Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G), is a project involving the US, Russian, Canadian, Japanese and European space agencies (NASA, Roscosmos, CSA, JAXA and ESA). Over the next 15 months, Airbus will develop a concept for a habitation and research module as part of the first study (habitat, approximately 6.5 x 4.5 metres and weighing some 9 tonnes). In the second study, Airbus will design a concept for an infrastructure element for refuelling, docking and telecommunications, which will also serve as an airlock for scientific equipment (known as Esprit, around 3 x 3 metres and weighing around 4 tonnes). Both studies will be developed as part of a far-reaching European partnership. Under NASA's overall design leadership, other elements - such as a second habitat, an airlock for scientific payloads and a logistics module - will be designed by international and commercial partners. NASA has plans to launch the first module - the central power propulsion element (PPE) - into lunar orbit in the early 2020's.
"The experience and know-how that ESA and Airbus have gained during flagship projects such as the Columbus space laboratory, the ATV space transporter and the European service module for Orion provide solid foundations for the studies," said Oliver Juckenhofel, Head of On-Orbit Services and Exploration at Airbus.
"When developing the new lunar platforms, robotic and human space exploration go hand in hand. Europe has a fantastic track record in both, and these two studies will help to ensure a strong European presence in future space exploration."
David Parker, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA, said: "With these studies and other preparations, ESA aims to stay at the centre of human space exploration. The Gateway will become humanity's most remote research outpost and we hope Europe will benefit from the world of innovation, discovery and excitement that lies ahead."
Unlike the International Space Station (ISS), the Gateway is not intended to be continually inhabited. It is envisaged that the lunar platform will act as a staging point for human missions to the Moon or Mars, and testing is planned for a series of technologies and procedures that will be needed.
Airbus will present its initial designs for the Gateway at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen on 3 October 2018.
Japan's space agency is developing the main engine for its next-generation H-III rocket, which could see service in fiscal 2020. The H-III will be key to Japan expanding its presence in the global satellite launch market, which has been dominated by the U.S., Europe and Russia. This marks the first time in about 20 years that Japan has been developing main rocket engines. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, began the first round of firing tests for the LE-9 engine on the southern island of Tanegashima in late April. A total of 11 ground tests are scheduled through June to check performance and durability. The LE-9 is a liquid cryogenic rocket engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in an expander bleed cycle. After completing another round of firing tests in fiscal 2018 starting next April, developers will construct the actual engine that will be installed in the H-III. The H-III will succeed the country's current H-series rockets, H-IIA and H-IIB. The H-III is designed to use three LE-9 engines when configured without strap-on solid rocket boosters, and two LE-9 engines when configured with them. The rocket is designed to launch with zero, two or four strap-on boosters, allowing it to deliver between two and seven metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit. IHI Aerospace, manufacturer of Japan’s Epsilon small launcher, is MHI’s supplier for the strap-on boosters for the H-2A and future H3. Kawasaki Heavy Industries provides the payload fairings.
The rocket will use commercially available components and a fuselage that can be mass produced, lowering launch costs to about half of the current price tag of approximately 10 billion yen ($88.6 million). The new, more powerful engine will allow the H-III to carry a midsize to large satellite weighing up to 6.5 tons -- 60% more than the H-IIA.
JAXA is working with the country's leading heavy machinery makers, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI, on rocket development. The total cost will likely reach about 190 billion yen.
With the powerful engine and lower launch costs, the government and space agency hope that the new rocket will garner more orders for satellite launches. They expect to send an average of about six H-IIIs into space from the Tanegshima Space Center every year.
Meanwhile, other countries are also working to roll out new rockets by around 2020. Russia currently launches on average some 30 rockets every year, while the U.S. sends up about 20 and China approximately a dozen. Japan launches only about three per year.
Unlike its competitors, Japan lacks launch centers. This puts it at a disadvantage as a work delay could affect the entire launch schedule of a satellite project. To compete with other countries, Japan has to improve its launch environment, including the capability for more frequent launches, and expand rocket development.
Japan’s experimental radar imaging satellite ASNARO-2 was launched Thursday aboard the third flight of the Epsilon rocket. Liftoff – from the Uchinoura Space Centre – occurred at the opening of a twenty-four-minute, two-second window opening at 06:06:11 local time (21:06 UTC on Wednesday). Japan’s first launch of 2018, Wednesday’s mission was originally scheduled towards the end of last year, before an electrical issue with the rocket delayed its liftoff. Epsilon was tasked with deploying the ASNARO-2 satellite into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. Advanced Satellite with New System Architecture for Observation 2 – or ASNARO-2 – is the second in a series of experimental Earth imaging satellites operated by Japan Space Systems, formerly the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF). A radar imaging mission, it follows the ASNARO-1 optical satellite that launched aboard Russia’s Dnepr rocket in November 2014. The mission is funded by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry through its New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
ASNARO-2 was constructed by NEC, and is based on the modular NEXTAR NX-300L platform. It measures 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) in length and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in height and width, excluding its solar panels and radar antenna. The satellite has a mass of 570 kilograms (1,257 lb) – including its 220-kilogram (485 lb) payload and 45 kilograms (99 lb) of propellant.
Two deployable solar arrays will generate electrical power for the satellite. At the end of the spacecraft’s five-year design life, these are still expected to be generating at least 1,300 watts of power.
ASNARO-2 will be operated in a near-circular sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of 505 kilometers (314 miles, 273 nautical miles) and an inclination of 97.4 degrees. It will orbit the Earth about once every 95 minutes.
The spacecraft carries XSAR, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload operating in the X band. This can be operated in three different observation modes: spotlight, strip mapping and scanning.
The spotlight mode, where the instrument focusses on a small area of the Earth’s surface, offers the highest resolution – one meter (3 feet) or better – with a swath width of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles, 5.4 nautical miles). In strip mapping mode, the satellite can image a longer strip of the Earth’s surface in the direction of travel.
This offers a resolution of better than 2 meters (7 feet) over a swath width of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles, 6.5 nautical miles). Scanning mode allows the satellite to image a wider area – with a swath width of at least 50 kilometers (31 miles, 27 nautical miles) – at a resolution of at least 16 meters (52 feet).
Japan’s Epsilon rocket will undertake the ASNARO-2 launch. Epsilon, which made its debut in September 2013 with the Hisaki – formerly SPRINT-A – satellite. In its standard configuration, Epsilon is a three-stage all-solid rocket, however it can also fly with an optional liquid-fuelled fourth stage. Thursday’s launch – designated Epsilon-3 – will use this four-stage configuration.
JAXA developed Epsilon to provide Japan a rocket capable of placing small satellites into orbit. It draws heavily on pre-existing components, with its first stage based on the SRB-A3 boosters used by the larger H-IIA rocket, and its upper stages derived from the older M-V vehicle. M-V, which Epsilon replaced, was retired in 2006 as its high cost-to-payload ratio made it uneconomical to operate.
During the gap between the M-V’s retirement and Epsilon’s introduction, JAXA relied on foreign rockets such as Dnepr to launch its small satellites.
The Epsilon launches from the same launch complex at the Uchinoura Space Centre that was used by the M-V – and earlier members of the Mu family of rockets. The Uchinoura Space Centre is one of Japan’s two operational orbital launch sites. The facility was originally used by Japan’s Institute for Space and Astronautical Science, or ISAS, one of three Japanese space agencies that merged in 2003 to form JAXA.
Before the merger, ISAS operated Japan’s smaller rockets – Mu, Lambda and the country’s sounding rockets – while the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) flew larger liquid-fuelled rockets from the Tanegashima Space Centre. While operated by ISAS, what is now Uchinoura was named the Kagoshima Space Centre.
The Mu rockets were rail-launched, so Uchinoura’s Mu Centre launch complex was originally designed as a rail launcher. Now that the complex is used by the vertically-launched Epsilon, it has been modified and the former launch rail now serves as an umbilical tower.
Although it is Epsilon’s third flight, Thursday’s launch was the first to combine both the operational version of the rocket and the CLPS upper stage. The operational form of Epsilon, described by JAXA as “Enhanced Epsilon” at the time of its last launch – although this name seems to have been dropped – incorporates enhanced second and third stages over the original design that flew the vehicle’s maiden flight. The second Epsilon used this “Enhanced” configuration, which is now the standard for all launches, while the CLPS was used on the first Epsilon launch.
Thursday’s launch began with ignition of Epsilon’s SRB-A3 first stage at the zero mark in the countdown. Epsilon lifted off and climbed quickly away from Uchinoura. The SRB-A3 burned for 108 seconds, propelling the rocket to a speed of 2.3 kilometers per second (1.4 miles per second). Following first stage burnout, the mission entered a brief coast phase as the vehicle continues to ascend.
Two minutes and 31 seconds into the flight, Epsilon was in space at an altitude of about 123 kilometers (76 miles, 66 nautical miles). The payload fairing, which will have protected ASNARO-2 during its ascent through the atmosphere, was no longer be needed and was jettisoned to save weight. Ten seconds later, the spent first stage separated.
Epsilon’s second stage, M-35, ignited four seconds after first stage separation. Producing 445 kilonewtons (100,000 pounds) of thrust, the stage burned for two minutes and nine seconds. The second stage separated 96 seconds after ending its burn and the KM-V2c third stage ignited four seconds later.
The third stage burn lasted 88 seconds. Separation occurred one minute and 52 seconds after burnout, with the fourth stage – the Compact Liquid Propulsion System (CLPS) – igniting after another four minutes and 37 seconds. CLPS uses hydrazine propellant. It made two burns during Thursday’s launch, with the first lasting five minutes and 16 seconds.
Once the upper stage’s first burn has concluded, the vehicle coasted for 23 minutes and 17 seconds before the second burn began. This was a seven-minute, seven-second firing of the CLPS to place ASNARO-2 close to its operational orbit.
Spacecraft separation occurred two minutes and 24 seconds after the end of the second burn, at 52 minutes, 35 seconds mission elapsed time. At separation, Epsilon was at an altitude of 513 kilometers (319 miles, 277 nautical miles).
Thursday’s launch was Japan’s first of 2018. In 2017 the country made seven orbital launches – the most it has achieved in a calendar year. Japan’s next scheduled launch is expected to be a reflight of last January’s attempt to place a CubeSat into orbit using a modified SS-520 sounding rocket. This launch was delayed from December, and is awaiting confirmation of a new launch date once Epsilon lifts off.
After the SS-520 launch, Japan’s next mission will then be an H-IIA flight at the end of February, which is expected to deploy an IGS optical reconnaissance satellite. Thursday’s launch will be Epsilon’s only flight in 2018 – its next launch is currently scheduled for the first quarter of 2019 with the Innovative Technology Demonstration Satellite.
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