<p>Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Saturday they will launch their second-generation Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer on Dec 1.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"After carefully examining the weather conditions at an emergency meeting today, we have decided to conduct the launch on Dec 1 (Monday) 2014. The launch time will be at 1:22:43 p.m.", Xinhua quoted a release posted on JAXA's website as saying.<br /><br />The Japanese space agency announced Friday that the launch of Hayabusa2 originally scheduled on Sunday has been rescheduled due to weather conditions.<br /><br />"The launch may be delayed further depending on weather conditions and other factors," said the release.<br /><br />JAXA intends to land Hayabusa2 on an asteroid orbiting between Earth and Mars. It is set to be launched by an H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan's southwestern Kagoshima prefecture.<br /><br />Hayabusa2 will embark on a six-year journey to collect samples from an asteroid called 1999 JU3. Scientists expect the mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.</p>
<p>Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Saturday they will launch their second-generation Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer on Dec 1.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"After carefully examining the weather conditions at an emergency meeting today, we have decided to conduct the launch on Dec 1 (Monday) 2014. The launch time will be at 1:22:43 p.m.", Xinhua quoted a release posted on JAXA's website as saying.<br /><br />The Japanese space agency announced Friday that the launch of Hayabusa2 originally scheduled on Sunday has been rescheduled due to weather conditions.<br /><br />"The launch may be delayed further depending on weather conditions and other factors," said the release.<br /><br />JAXA intends to land Hayabusa2 on an asteroid orbiting between Earth and Mars. It is set to be launched by an H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan's southwestern Kagoshima prefecture.<br /><br />Hayabusa2 will embark on a six-year journey to collect samples from an asteroid called 1999 JU3. Scientists expect the mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.</p>