HOPE is quickly fading for Earth’s last-remaining Venus mission, after controllers lost contact with the Japanese spacecraft after 14 years.
JAXA, Japan’s space agency, has confirmed that it failed to establish communications with the satellite orbiting Venus in late April.
“Since then, we have implemented various measures to restore service, but communication has not yet been restored,” the agency wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
“We are currently working on restoring communication.”
The agency said it will soon announce its next steps.
The spacecraft, dubbed Akatsuki, launched aboard an H2-1 rocket in 2010.
It was Japan’s first interplanetary assignment in over a decade after an electrical failure pulled the plug on the country’s Nozomi Mars mission in 1998.
Akatsuki defied all odds to even reach Venus, let alone successfully report back atmospheric data.
The spacecraft’s main engine faltered in the final leg of its journey, leaving Akatsuki in an orbit around the Sun instead of its target planet.
Scientists ejected a 65g oxidiser to make the spacecraft lighter, and then used altitude control thrusters to push it into Venus’ orbit – where it has remained ever since.
JAXA began reading data from Akatsuki in 2016.
Akatsuki is the only operational spacecraft at Venus.
Though it swings alongside two retired solar orbiters from Nasa and the European Space Agency.
Lunar touchdown
It’s marks both a disappointing and historic year for Japan’s ventures in space.
The nation successfully landed a rover on the Moon at the start of the year, becoming the fifth country to touchdown on the lunar.
However, the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon” (SLIM) stopped sending signals back to Earth just hours after landing.
This was not Japan’s first attempt.
In November, the country attempted a lunar touchdown with its OMOTENASHI lander, as part of Nasa’s uncrewed Artemis one mission.
JAXA, again, failed to establish a stable communication with the mini probe.
Then in April last year, Japan’s ambitions of becoming the first country to commercially land on the moon were scuppered after contact was lost with ispace’s Hakuto-R’s spacecraft.
All you need to know about planets in our solar system
Our solar system is made up of nine planets with Earth the third closest to the Sun. But each planet has its own quirks, so find out more about them all…
- How old is Earth? Plus other facts on our planet
- How many moons does Mercury have?
- What colour is Venus?
- How far away is Mars to Earth? And other facts on the red planet
- How big is Jupiter?
- How many moons does Saturn have?
- Does Uranus have rings?
- How many moons does Neptune have?
- How big is Pluto?
- How hot is the Sun?
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
