On Sunday, five years from the first attempt, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of JAXA issued a command to the orbiter to fire four thrusters, giving the spacecraft the boost it needed to zoom into Venus’s orbit. While Venus and Earth are very different, they are also neighboring planets.
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Akatsuki carries six instruments – five cameras and a radio probe – that are created to scan the highly unusual Venusian atmosphere. Now we know for sure – Akatsuki became operational Venus probe on elliptical orbit with following parameters: apoapsis altitude of 440,000 km, periapsis altitude of about 400 km, orbit period is 13 days and 14 hours (orbit will be corrected to 9 days period). The 2-Micron Camera (IR2) will image the middle and lower atmosphere at 1.73, 2.26, and 2.32 microns.
From the JAXA news release: “The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully inserted the Venus Climate Orbiter “AKATSUKI” into the orbit circling around Venus”. Project scientist Imamura said that we can consider Akatsuki to be a weather satellite for Venus, continuously imaging the planet for many days at a time, observing the 3D motions of the atmosphere.
This image was taken by Akatsuki’s IR1 instrument from a distance of about 42,250 miles (68,000 km) on December 7, 2015.
All it took was five and a half years, a trip past the Sun, and a stellar backup plan, and Japan can now proudly show off photos of Venus. “Their team really pulled off a miracle by getting the mission back on track”. Akatsuki was created to spend six months (not five years, six months!) travelling to Venus before starting two years of observations. JAXA will not check the function of three additional science instruments while gradually adjusting the orbit to a period of about nine days. Regular science operations are scheduled to start in April of 2016.
Akatsuki is the second interplanetary mission in Japan’s history.
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A first attempt to lock into Venus’ orbit shortly after the probe’s launch in 2010 failed due to a malfunction of the main engine. The image captures Venus’s wild clouds, along with the upward diffusion of sulphur dioxide (SO2 ) from atmospheric circulation.
