Japan loses contact with Akatsuki, humanity's only active Venus probe
Japan loses contact with Akatsuki, humanity's only active Venus probe
Akatsuki has overcome big challenges in the past.
It sounds like they still have some hope of bringing it back, so, fingers crossed.
It looks like more Venus probes will start launching over the next few years. There's the Rocket Lab / MIT mission first, then more from the US, China, India, and Russia to close out the decade. Plus ESA's next probe in 2032.
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The Japanese space agency said it has lost contact with its intrepid Venus spacecraft Akatsuki.
Akatsuki is Japan's mission dedicated to studying the climate of Venus and currently the only active spacecraft in orbit around the second planet from the sun.
The $300 million spacecraft launched in 2010 and had a less than stellar start to its mission, failing to enter orbit around Venus due to a failure of its main engine.
JAXA’s mission account for Akatsuki posted on X Wednesday (May 29) that the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) had "lost contact with Akatsuki after an operation in late April due to an extended period of low attitude stability control mode, and is currently making efforts to reestablish communication with the spacecraft."
The spacecraft will need to be able to maintain a stable orientation in order to point its antenna and communicate with Earth.
Even if Akatsuki cannot be rescued this time, the mission has proven the problem-solving capabilities of JAXA engineers and enhanced our understanding of Venus' climate and atmospheric dynamics.
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