Japan postpones launch of asteroid explorer to Dec. 3

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Monday that they will launch their second-generation asteroid explorer Hayabusa 2 on Dec. 3.

"We will conduct the launch of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26 with the Asteroid Explorer 'Hayabusa 2' onboard from the Tanegashima Space Center at 1:22:04 p.m. on December 3 (Wed.), 2014 (Japan Standard Time)," said a release posted Monday on the website of JAXA.

The Japanese space agency announced Sunday that the launch of the asteroid explorer "Hayabusa 2" scheduled Monday has been rescheduled to Wednesday due to weather conditions.

"Strong wind exceeding the weather restrictions was projected around the launch pad at the scheduled launch time on the previous schedule launch day of Dec. 1 (Mon.), 2014," said JAXA.

JAXA intends to land Hayabusa 2 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.

Hayabusa 2 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.