JAXA
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Astronomy & Space
| Stands for | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
JAXA stands for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, an astronomy & Space abbreviation.
Japan's national space agency, formed in 2003 by merging three earlier organizations. JAXA is known for asteroid sample-return missions, operates the Kibo laboratory on the ISS, develops H-series rockets, and landed the SLIM spacecraft on the Moon in January 2024.
Example: JAXA's Hayabusa2 returned samples from asteroid Ryugu to Earth in December 2020.
Usage notes
The merger combined ISAS (space science), NAL (aeronautics) and NASDA (development and launch). Its first Hayabusa mission brought back the first asteroid samples, from Itokawa, in 2010. SLIM's landing made Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the Moon, and it demonstrated pinpoint accuracy despite landing on its nose.
Related abbreviations
More astronomy & Space abbreviations
- HR diagram – Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
- HST – Hubble Space Telescope
- HZ – Habitable zone
- IAU – International Astronomical Union
- ISRO – Indian Space Research Organisation
- ISS – International Space Station
- JD – Julian date (Julian Day number)
- JPL – Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- JWST – James Webb Space Telescope
- KBO – Kuiper belt object
- kpc – Kiloparsec
- LCDM – Lambda cold dark matter