Japanese space probe Akatsuki fails to enter Venus orbit
JAXA has partially restored communication with the probe, and said it has found no trouble with its main unit. Under the plan, Akatsuki, which was about 550 kilometres above Venus Tuesday, was to reverse its engine for 12 minutes to slow down so it could be pulled into Venus' gravitational field and enter orbit. JAXA said it seemed as though Akatsuki's engine had stalled out two to three minutes after it went into reverse thrust. Being unable to slow down sufficiently, the probe most likely passed over Venus, it said. Read more
Japan's first space probe bound for Venus has failed to enter the planet's orbit, the country's space agency says. The space craft, Akatsuki, is believed to have passed Venus after it failed to slow down sufficiently. Read more
A Japanese probe to Venus failed to reach orbit Wednesday and was captured by the sun's gravitational pull in a setback to Japan's shoestring space program, which will have to wait another six years to try again. Read more
Japan's first Venus probe struggling to enter orbit
Japan's first space probe bound for Venus was struggling on Tuesday to enter the planet's orbit, the space agency said. The probe, nicknamed "Akatsuki" or "Dawn", reversed its engine to slow down and enter the planet's gravitational field but lost contact with ground control longer than had been anticipated, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. It was presumed to have shifted itself into a "safe hold mode", and was able to communicate only by via one of its three antennae after the blackout ended. Read more
Japan's space agency (Jaxa) is working to establish the status of its Akatsuki mission to Venus. The spacecraft fired its main engine just before midnight GMT on Monday in a manoeuvre designed to allow the planet's gravity to capture the probe. Akatsuki then briefly lost contact with Earth as it moved behind the Venus. Scientists said they would know later on Tuesday whether the operation to insert the satellite into the correct orbit had been successful or not. Read more
Akatsuki fires thrusters in preparation to enter orbit around Venus Japan's probe "Akatsuki" prepared to enter orbit around Venus on Dec. 7, firing its reverse thrusters after coming within 550 kilometers of the planet. Read more
The Japanese space probe Akatsuki is expected to enter the orbit of Venus on Tuesday, 200 days after it was launched from Earth in May, JAXA officials said Monday. Akatsuki, which would be the first Japanese space probe to orbit a planet other than Earth, successfully rotated its engine in the direction its traveling shortly before 8 a.m. Monday, according to JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. When the probe is about 550 km above Venus around 9 a.m. Tuesday, it will fire its engine for 12 minutes to slow down enough to enter the planet's orbit. Read more