Japan Loses Contact With $300 Million Venus Spacecraft Akatsuki After Operation in Late April

Japan gave an update about its Akatsuki - its spacecraft dedicated to studying Venus.

Japan Lost Contact With Akatsuki in April

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." This information was posted on JAXA's mission account for Akatsuki.

The spacecraft must maintain a stable orientation to point its antenna and communicate with Earth. The Akatsuki team said they would give an update once the issue was fixed.

However, even if Akatsuki will not be saved this time, the mission has improved our knowledge of Venus' climate and atmospheric dynamics and demonstrated the JAXA engineers' capacity for problem-solving.

Furthermore, even if Akatsuki is dead, Earth's sister planet may eventually be discovered. Venus is gaining attention again because of the intriguing readings of potential biomarkers in its atmosphere and the questions surrounding why the planet experienced a strong greenhouse effect that made it the hottest planet in the solar system.

Also, further missions may be sent to Venus, including ones from NASA, the European Space Agency, India, and a private enterprise later in the decade.

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Akatsuki Mission

Akatsuki is Japan's probe to study Earth's twin, Venus. It is dedicated to examining the second planet from the Sun's climate and is the only active spacecraft in orbit. It is also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter.

In 2010, due to a major engine failure, the $300 million spacecraft had a less-than-ideal launch, and the mission could not enter orbit around Venus. After circling the Sun for five years, the mission crew was able to devise a second chance in 2015 and successfully enter orbit.

The primary goal of the Akatsuki mission is to clarify the riddles surrounding the Venusian atmosphere. Venus is frequently referred to as Earth's sister planet in terms of mass and size, but in reality, the two are extremely different. It has dense clouds of sulfuric acid, a high temperature, and is shrouded in carbon dioxide. Determining the reasons behind this ecosystem's formation will provide hints about how Earth formed and how its climate has changed.

A theory suggests that Venus may have formerly had oceans or other significant quantities of surface water. However, over time, when more carbon dioxide and solar radiation were created by geological action, it might have suffered a runaway greenhouse effect. The Earth would have become a hostile environment today if all surface water had evaporated, air pressure had risen, and extreme temperatures had followed.

A recent study suggested that Venus's water may have evaporated due to a chemical mechanism called HCO+ dissociative recombination. Previous theories suggested that Venus lost its water through a process known as hydrodynamic outflow, which describes how gas departs from a planet's atmosphere.

However, water would be lost twice as quickly due to HCO+ dissociative recombination than hydrodynamic outflow suggested. It would also account for any discrepancies in data from previous Venus spacecraft instruments.

Venus is, therefore, a crucial subject for further investigation.

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