The launch of Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe, aiming to collect samples from an asteroid, has been delayed because of bad weather, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said in a statement Saturday. Originally scheduled for Sunday, liftoff is now set for Monday. “The launch of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26 with the Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 on board has been rescheduled as clouds including a freezing layer that exceeds the restrictions for suitable weather are forecast to be generated at around the scheduled launch time on November 30,” JAXA said in a statement Friday. The $260 million Hayabusa2 space probe is being launched four years after the completion of the first Hayabusa mission. It aims to collect samples from an asteroid named 1999 JU3, a roughly 3,000-foot, spherical asteroid circling the sun in an orbit that crosses the Earth’s. The mission will reportedly help build on the findings of the first Hayabusa mission, which was partially successful in returning samples from a near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa in June 2010. Read more http://www.ibtimes.com/japans-asteroid-probe-lift-monday-after-bad-weather-delays-launch-1730750
