Artist’s illustration of Akatsuki Venus spacecraft, via Akihiro Ikeshita (JAXA) / Wikipedia.
Japan’s Akatsuki Venus probe – also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter – has been biding its time in space for five years, after missing its orbital insertion slot due to a technical fault in its propulsion system. On Sunday – December 6, 2015 – the probe conducted a last-chance orbital insertion maneuver, designed to place it in orbit around Venus. The burn lasted began at 5:51 p.m. CST by North American clocks (23:51 UTC) and lasted 20.5 minutes. Telemetry from the spacecraft indicate the burn was completed successfully. Doppler tracking showed a change in the spacecraft’s velocity. But Akatsuki’s controllers do not know yet if the craft is where it needs to be. JAXA says it will take three days of ranging measurements to find out if the burn placed Akatsuki in the correct orbit around Venus.
Akatsuki (which means Dawn) is intended to explore the atmosphere of Venus and help explain why it’s so different from Earth’s. It was launched on May 20, 2010. It first reached Venus on December 7, 2010, but failed to enter orbit. The probe continued orbiting the sun as JAXA scientists developed and finally carried out plans for yesterday’s orbital-insertion burn.
Since it had lost the use of its main engine, Akatsuki had to fire four of its Reaction Control System thrusters during yesterday’s maneuver, which was the longest burn ever conducted by the vehicle’s small thrusters.
Bottom line: We’ll update, when we hear whether Akatsuki’s last chance to enter orbit around Venus has been successful.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1IOYPYh
Artist’s illustration of Akatsuki Venus spacecraft, via Akihiro Ikeshita (JAXA) / Wikipedia.
Japan’s Akatsuki Venus probe – also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter – has been biding its time in space for five years, after missing its orbital insertion slot due to a technical fault in its propulsion system. On Sunday – December 6, 2015 – the probe conducted a last-chance orbital insertion maneuver, designed to place it in orbit around Venus. The burn lasted began at 5:51 p.m. CST by North American clocks (23:51 UTC) and lasted 20.5 minutes. Telemetry from the spacecraft indicate the burn was completed successfully. Doppler tracking showed a change in the spacecraft’s velocity. But Akatsuki’s controllers do not know yet if the craft is where it needs to be. JAXA says it will take three days of ranging measurements to find out if the burn placed Akatsuki in the correct orbit around Venus.
Akatsuki (which means Dawn) is intended to explore the atmosphere of Venus and help explain why it’s so different from Earth’s. It was launched on May 20, 2010. It first reached Venus on December 7, 2010, but failed to enter orbit. The probe continued orbiting the sun as JAXA scientists developed and finally carried out plans for yesterday’s orbital-insertion burn.
Since it had lost the use of its main engine, Akatsuki had to fire four of its Reaction Control System thrusters during yesterday’s maneuver, which was the longest burn ever conducted by the vehicle’s small thrusters.
Bottom line: We’ll update, when we hear whether Akatsuki’s last chance to enter orbit around Venus has been successful.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1IOYPYh
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire