TOKYO - A Japanese space probe on Friday (Feb 22) landed successfully on an asteroid 340 million kilometres from Earth, as three homegrown firms including Japan Airlines (JAL) announced their foray into the nascent space exploration industry. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft, launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) in 2014, not only landed briefly on the asteroid Ryugu at 7.29am (6.29am in Singapore) but collected debris from its rocky surface. Hours later, Japanese lunar exploration start-up ispace, which is working with US entrepreneur Elon Musk's space venture SpaceX, announced new partnerships with JAL, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and manufacturer NGK Spark Plugs. Their aim is to send a rover into the Moon's orbit by next year, and land a probe on the lunar surface in 2021. These parallel moves by both the Japanese public and private sectors reflect the growing interest in a burgeoning space industry with many companies seizing on what they consider to be the country's competitive edge in advanced, precise technology. Hayabusa2, which weighs 600kg and is the size of a large fridge, on Friday fired a bullet into Ryugu's soil to loosen and then collect the surface debris. Scientists say the material has been uncontaminated by the elements since the dawn of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. The collected samples will be brought back to Earth for analysis by the end of next year, when Hayabusa2 is due to complete its six-year odyssey. Scientists believe that examining the samples from Ryugu - named after an undersea dragon palace in Japanese folklore - will unravel mysteries of how life began. "The hands of humankind have arrived at a new celestial object," said mission project manager Yuichi Tsuda. "The touchdown was in the best condition and as desired." Hayabusa 2's predecessor made history in 2005 when it became the first ever probe to land on an asteroid, called Itokawa. But it failed to fire a projectile and managed to collect some dust. The latest successful mission was significant because it was conducted autonomously in a delicate operation that Jaxa likened to "landing on a pitcher mound in a baseball stadium from a height of 20km." Jaxa hailed the "pinpoint touchdown" in a difficult mission whose success was made more uncertain given Ryugu's extremely rocky surface. That led to a four-month delay in its scheduled landing for Jaxa to identify a new spot. The probe began its descent from 20km above the asteroid at 1.15pm on Thursday (Feb 21), reaching an altitude of 500m at 6.14am on Friday before it switched to autonomous pilot mode. Hayabusa2 has returned to a standby position 20km above the asteroid, and will make a second landing attempt in July before returning to Earth. The success of the Japanese mission was hailed around the world. The US space agency, Nasa, which itself is on a mission until 2023 to collect samples from another asteroid Bennu, said it was "looking forward to comparing data and sharing samples with Japan". British rock band Queen's lead guitarist Brian May, an astrophysicist, also chimed in on Twitter: "Hurrah! Brilliant success in touchdown on Ryugu!" Chief executive Takeshi Hakamada, from the start-up ispace, lauded the achievement as remarkable. "As technology for planetary exploration becomes established, and the know-how of private entities actively tapped, new industries can be born." In announcing the new partnerships, he said JAL's facility near Narita International Airport would be used to assemble and test the lunar landers under ispace's Hakuto-R program. JAL will also help transport the landers to the launch site. Mitsui Sumitomo said it planned to provide lunar insurance coverage plans for companies and individuals so as to mitigate the risks of space exploration and to further develop the space industry. Its managing executive officer, Isao Nojo, likened this to when marine insurance was developed in the medieval era to protect voyagers and seafarers. NGK, meanwhile, is developing solid-state batteries as a potential energy source on the moon. These batteries will be transported as cargo when ispace lands its probe on 2021 in what will be the world's first tests of such technology on the lunar surface, where temperatures can reach lows of -150 deg C at night. NGK executive officer Takio Kojima explained that the firm's "oxide-based ceramic electrolyte" battery technology are able to withstand wide temperature fluctuations, while the use of oxide removes the risk of combustion or hazardous gas leaks. Director of ispace Takahiro Nakamura said that it was necessary to "gather all capabilities", as lunar exploration has the potential to create new opportunities in many industries such as construction, telecommunications, aviation, automobile, materials engineering, energy, steel, insurance, medical care and media.
Japanese lunar exploration start-up ispace, currently working with SpaceX, has announced new partnerships with Japan Airlines (JAL), manufacturer NGK Spark Plugs and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to send a rover into the orbit of the Moon next year, and land a lunar probe on its surface in 2021. The moves come after the Ryugu, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s space probe, successfully landed on, and collected debris from, the asteroid Hayabusa2. Mitsui Sumitomo will provide insurance to the venture, while JAL will assemble, test and transport landers, and NGK will develop batteries as lunar energy sources.