AKATSUKI Enters Orbit Around Venus
JAXA’s Akatsuki Venus spacecraft. (Image by Akihiro Ikeshita)
TOKYO, December 7, 2015 (JAXA PR) — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the attitude control engine thrust operation of the Venus Climate Orbiter “AKATSUKI” for its Venus orbit insertion from 8:51 a.m. on December 7 (Japan Standard Time).
As a result of analyzing data transmitted from the orbiter, we confirmed that the thrust emission of the attitude control engine was conducted for about 20 minutes as scheduled.
The orbiter is now in good health. We are currently measuring and calculating its orbit after the operation.
It will take a few days to estimate the orbit, thus we will announce the operation result once it is determined.
References:
Venus Climate Orbiter “AKATSUKI” (PLANET-C)
https://global.jaxa.jp/
Venus Meteorology AKATSUKI (PLANET-C) (ISAS)
https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/
5 responses to “AKATSUKI Enters Orbit Around Venus”
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Good job guys! Both your patience and ingenuity were on display.
Missing a planet and then returning to it after several orbits around the Sun, with a pretty low budget malfunctioning little probe, is really impressive! Orbital mechanics maybe means that the Solar System is a bit smaller, travel wise, than it looks. The orbit Akatsuki was almost inserted in to begin with, was in some resonance matching that of Venus. Not randomly, nor by any preparation for this kind of scenario (as it partly had been for Apollo 13 returning to Earth). But by nature it happens to coincide. The economically optimal interplanetary orbit is correlated with a safety backup benefit. Like with that ISEE-3 probe returned to near Earth after 30+ years. In spite of the huge distances, less uncommon than from impression at first look, there’s sometimes a second chance, an almost free return.
Correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t do the math of this. But the history seems more than coincidental.
It’s sometimes called the Interplanetary Transport Network or the Interplanetary Superhighway – a set of low energy transfer orbits. Sometimes used for probes.
@Kim Wilson
Just that there isn’t anything “inter”-planetary about it. That network is only useful very near a planetary orbit, like in cis-lunar space where we have 7 Lagrange points to play with within 0.01 AU from Earth. It’s not a network from planet to planet. Akatsuki was put in a kind of near Venus heliocentric orbit to begin with, consuming a H-II launcher which is in the class of a Falcon 9+ with about 300 tons of fuel on the launch pad. I suppose they “only” had to compensate for that final failed orbital insertion burn.
Still, since the Venusian orbit is more than half a billion kilometers long, I think this is a great triumph for orbital mechanics, to be in the Hall of Fame together with the prediction of Neptune’s existence. Missing a planet and bringing it back with the fumes left in the attitude thrusters. If I had seen this in a scene of the movie Gravity, I would’ve thought it ridiculously unrealistic. But now it is claimed.
That’s a great feat of satellite flying, JAXA. Good job. It’s easy to fly a satellite when everything is working properly. Hell, it’s even boring. Fixing a broken system is how you make your reputation in the biz. The Japanese have done it before and they proved they can still do it.