Vote Now! Best Space Stories of the Week - March 4, 2012

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Japan Eyes New Space Mission to Sample an Asteroid

JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita

Space engineers in Japan are scoping out an ambitious follow-up to the country's Hayabusa mission, which snagged samples from the asteroid Itokawa and returned them to Earth in 2010. [Full Story]

NEXT: Best Mars Sky Show of 2012 Occurs Saturday: How to Watch Online

Best Mars Sky Show of 2012 Occurs Saturday: How to Watch Online

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Skywatchers can watch Saturday's Mars opposition live online, getting an observatory's-eye view of the celestial action. [Full Story]

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.