Girl & Kat

Extraterrestrial material from asteroid Bennu, collected by the NASA spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx, has arrived at our curation facility at ISAS JAXA! Alongside grains from asteroid Ryugu, the team will now embark on the first comparative study between the two asteroids.

A journalist lifted his hand, studying the faces of the JAXA representatives as the microphone was passed to his seat. “Landing was successful…” he began. “…I thought you would look happier?”

As the XRISM X-ray space observatory completes commissioning and heads towards first light, we caught up with the NASA leaders who were on the ground during the time that JAXA and NASA were working together for the rebirth of the observatory that scientists have been trying to launch for four decades.

SLIM is a small spacecraft, but the principles behind its accurate landing technology can be applied to much larger missions that will head to the moon and Mars in the future. Its imminent arrival on the moon may be one small two-step landing for a spacecraft, but it is one giant leap for space exploration.

"It was very early in the morning when I approached the airport customs desk, cradling a protective black box in my arms. Nestled inside the fitted foam interior were two tiny grains as old as the Solar System itself."

We have not discovered life on K2-18b.

We have not even discovered water on K2-18b.

All we can say is that the planet does not… not… have an ocean.

The SLIM mission is about the launch and head to the Moon! But how is SLIM different from previous lunar landers, and what does the mission plan to achieve?

On March 20, the extraterrestrial curation team pulled off the protective overalls that guard against any Earthly contamination entering the laboratory, and joined leaders of the mission and initial analysis teams in the ISAS Communication Hall. It has been just over two years since the Hayabusa2 spacecraft returned a sample from asteroid Ryugu to Earth. The teams were together to present a summary of the findings to date.