When the Japanese Hayabusa-2 mission is launched towards asteroid 1999 JU 3 in 2014 to collect surface samples, MASCOT – the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout – an asteroid lander developed by the German Aerospace Center will be on board. On arrival at the asteroid in 2018, it will be released from the main spacecraft, [continue reading]
The Japanese space agency JAXA plans to land a spacecraft onto an asteroid in 2018 to search for clues of how life began on Earth. An artists rendering of Hayabusa 2 approaching the asteroid 1999 JU3. Image Credit: JAXA Hayabusa 2 will be JAXA’s second attempt at collecting material from an asteroid, after its first [continue reading]