A Japanese probe sent on a two-year mission to Venus failed to enter orbit and may have flown past the planet, the country's space agency said today.

A Japanese probe reached Venus today and prepared to enter orbit on a two-year mission that will mark a major milestone for the country's space programme and could shed light on the climate of Earth's mysterious neighbour.

IT MAY sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan’s space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collectsolar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams ormicrowaves.

Japan fired the world’s first greenhouse gas-monitoring satellite into space today, a launch deemed crucial in the country’s quest to compete globally in putting commercial satellites into orbit.

Japan plans to follow up its first lunar satellite orbit this month by sending an unmanned probe to land on the moon by 2015, news reports said today.

Japan’s space agency plans to cook up Japanese “space cuisine” for hungry astronauts at the International Space Station.

Japan’s space agency has set up a project team to send an unmanned mission to the surface of the moon, possibly within the next 10 years, officials said today.

Japan’s space agency today delayed the launch of a rocket carrying an infrared satellite due to bad weather.

JAPANESE spacecraft on an unprecedented mission to bring asteroid material back to Earth is starting for home despite showing signs of trouble earlier, an executive of Japan’s space agency, JAXA, said yesterday.

A Japanese space probe is heading back toward an asteroid for a second landing attempt after failing to touch down over the weekend, space agency officials said today.

A research probe failed to touch down on an asteroid today after manoeuvring within yards to collect surface samples, Japan’s space agency said.

Japan’s space agency will postpone the test flight of a Japanese supersonic jet by one day due to bad weather.

Japan’s space agency plans to launch an arrow-shaped airplane at twice the speed of sound high over the Australian outback in a crucial test of the country’s push to develop a supersonic successor to the retired Concorde.

Joining a swelling group of countries shooting for the moon, Japan is considering a plan to establish a manned lunar base by 2025, officials said today.

A Japanese rocket carrying two spy satellites meant to monitor North Korea failed to reach orbit today and had to be destroyed, space officials said, in the latest blow to Japan’s space programme.