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July 02, 2026
 

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SPACE

JAXA's HTV-X1 delivered supplies to the international space station and then carried out missions in orbit around the Earth in and after March this year.
JAPAN
May 27, 2026
First unit of JAXA’s new ISS resupply craft completes missions
The HTV-X1 delivered supplies to the international space station and then carried out missions in orbit around the Earth in and after March this year.
Ambitious plans for space-based solar power face steep costs and engineering hurdles, making them far less practical than rapidly advancing terrestrial renewables.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2026
Solar in space is a solution in search of a problem
The thinking behind space solar makes some sense: The sun doesn’t always shine on Earth, which means solar panels on the ground aren’t always gathering energy.
The SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy Booster creates sound waves as it lifts off on its 12th test flight from the SpaceX launch complex in Starbase, Texas, on May 22.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
May 26, 2026
SpaceX debut draws a crowd, but few recent hot IPOs outpace the market
The space exploration company is expected to target ​a $1.75 trillion valuation, but an analysis shows there is ​no guarantee investors ‌will make money.
Astronauts Zhu Yangzhu (right), Zhang Zhiyuan (center), and Lai Ka-ying, who is the first astronaut from Hong Kong, wave during a see-off ceremony before taking part in the Shenzhou-23 spaceflight mission to China's Tiangong space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 25, 2026
China launches crewed space flight as part of moon ambitions
A key experiment will be one of the crew staying for a year in orbit to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity as part of China’s preparations for future lunar missions.
A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on its 12th test flight at Starbase, Texas, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 23, 2026
SpaceX’s Starship flight hits most targets in pre-IPO test
The outcome could boost investor confidence ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering next month, expected to be the largest in history.
Tohoku University professor Reishi Takashima speaks at a news conference in Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 21, 2026
Asteroid traces found in Japan may be linked to extinction of dinosaurs
The discovery of traces of an asteroid in Hokkaido is the first-ever confirmation of such traces in Japan, according to the announcement from the team of Japanese researchers.
A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on its 11th test flight at the company's launch pad in Starbase, Texas, on Oct.13, 2025.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 21, 2026
SpaceX IPO filing lays bare losses and Musk control as it stakes future on AI
Much of its outlook relies on SpaceX dominating technologies and markets that do not yet exist — from Mars missions to AI data centers in space.
Masami Ouchi (left), a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and Kimihiko Nakajima, an associate professor at Kanazawa University, at the education ministry on Tuesday
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 15, 2026
Japanese researchers gain glimpse into the universe’s first stars
The team observed an ultra-faint galaxy dating to roughly 800 million years after the Big Bang.
Axiom Space's Chief Technology Officer Koichi Wakata (left) and company president and CEO Jonathan Cirtain address reporters at a news conference on Thursday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Axiom Space to launch Japan subsidiary
The Texas-based company is aiming to deepen ties with Japan ahead of its planned commercial replacement for the International Space Station.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, at the Viva Technology conference in Paris in June 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
May 7, 2026
SpaceX IPO gives Musk sweeping power and curbs shareholder rights
The rocket maker has adopted ⁠corporate governance policies that will erode typical shareholder protections in unprecedented ways.
An artist’s impression of the trans-Neptunian object 2002 XV93, the first such object beyond Pluto on which an atmosphere has been detected. The background shows the object as it occults a distant star.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 5, 2026
Japan astronomers find thin atmosphere on small celestial body beyond Neptune
Previously Pluto was the only such body thought to have supported an atmosphere, due to its stronger surface gravity.
Ispace's Resilience lunar lander at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tsukuba Space Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, in September 2024.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 1, 2026
Japan’s space systems face growing cybersecurity threats
Space systems depend on data links between satellites and ground infrastructure, making them inherently tied to cybersecurity.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa speaks at a press briefing in Tokyo in May last year.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 24, 2026
Japan’s space agency to launch H3 rocket on June 10
It will be JAXA’s first launch attempt of the H3 rocket since a failed effort last December.
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket launches from the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2026
It’s up to SpaceX and Blue Origin to stick the moon landing
NASA is betting on SpaceX and Blue Origin to build lunar landers for the Artemis III mission next year, paving the way for the first mission back to the moon since 1972.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks at a news conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 21, 2026
Musk’s SpaceX tries to woo Wall Street with analyst meetings this week, sources say
The company is looking to raise $75 billion, in what would be the world’s ​biggest-ever initial public offering, with executives targeting a late June trading debut.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 19, 2026
Blue Origin launches rocket with used booster for first time
The novel recycling approach comes amid fierce competition between Bezos’s firm and fellow tech titan Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has also recovered a booster.
A "selfie" taken by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, made up of 62 individual images, in July 2025.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 16, 2026
Huge ‘bathtub ring’ may show contours of ancient ocean on Mars
A new study builds on earlier evidence of a bygone Martian ocean including studies identifying features resembling an ancient shoreline.
A young boy wearing an astronaut costume cheers next to a woman waving a flag as they watch a live broadcast of the return of the Artemis II crew members to Earth at the San Diego Air and Space Museum during a watch party for the crew's splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, in San Diego on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2026
Artemis II lunar mission draws flood of conspiracy theories
Hashtags such as “fake space” and “fake NASA” have gained traction online since NASA’s lunar fly-by sent astronauts farther from Earth than any human before.
Crowds watch the Artemis II Orion capsule splash down off the coast of San Diego at the Air and Space Museum on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 11, 2026
‘Howl at the moon’: NASA’s bid to boost space enthusiasm
From social media posts clipped from livestreamed events with the astronauts to an extraordinary portfolio of photos, viewers caught an eyeful of Artemis II.
The Artemis II crew capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday in this screenshot from a livestreamed video.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2026
Splashdown of Artemis II astronauts concludes 10-day moon mission
The splashdown capped the first voyage by humans to the vicinity of the moon in over half a century.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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