Akatsuki

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Akatsuki

Akatsuki Venus probe
NSSDC ID 2010-020D
Mission goal Venus
Client Japan Aerospace Exploration AgencyJAXA JAXA
Launcher H-2A 202
construction
Takeoff mass 480 kg
Course of the mission
Start date May 20, 2010, 21:58 UTC
launch pad Tanegashima Space Center , YLP
End date 2018 (planned)
 
 05/20/2010 begin
 
 December 8, 2010 Failed to enter Venus' orbit
 
 December 06, 2015 Entry into the Venus orbit
 
 05.2016 Start of the scientific mission
 
 2018 End of the primary mission
 

Akatsuki ( Japanese あ か つ き 'dawn', formerly PLANET-C , also Venus Climate Orbiter ) is a Venus probe from the Japanese space agency JAXA , which primarily studies the planet's atmosphere and climate .

mission

Production began in early 2007. During the preparation phase, the probe was called Planet-C , and it was given the name Akatsuki in October 2009. The launch was initially planned with an MV (also called Mu-5). Since the production of the MV was stopped in 2006 and the development of the more cost-effective successor should not be completed before 2011, the company switched to an H-IIA .

30 hours were set for one orbit of Venus. The probe should approach the planet on its strongly eccentric orbit up to 300 km; the furthest point of the orbit would have been 80,000 km. The inclination of the orbit was intended to be 129 degrees. The primary mission was originally scheduled for two years.

Akatsuki probe launch on May 20, 2010

course

On May 20, 2010 Akatsuki launched together with the IKAROS probe with an H-IIA-202 launcher to reach Venus in December 2010.

On December 8, 2010, Akatsuki was supposed to enter Venus orbit at an altitude of 550 km. However, this attempt failed because the main engine did not ignite. Therefore Akatsuki remained in a solar orbit with an orbital period of 203 days. Five years later, on December 6, 2015, the probe was able to swing into orbit around Venus when it approached Venus at 23:51 UTC by activating the maneuver thruster for 20 minutes . Akatsuki orbits the planet in a highly elliptical orbit at a distance between 400 km and 440,000 km with an orbital period of 13 days and 14 hours. With a course correction on April 4, 2016, the apoapsis was reduced to 370,000 km and the orbital time to 10.8 days. The scientific part of the mission began after the devices were calibrated in May 2016.

In April 2018, Akatsuki ended the regular observation phase and began an extended operation phase.

construction

The three-axis stabilized space probe weighed 480 kg together with the propellant . The curb weight is 329 kg, 34 kg of which are accounted for by the scientific instruments. The instruments also include five cameras : three for the infrared range, one for the ultraviolet spectrum and another, the Lightning and Airglow Camera (LAC), to record lightning and other luminous phenomena in the atmosphere. Two of the infrared cameras are used to investigate the nature of the surface, the cloud temperatures and the steam concentrations. The Long Wave Infrared Camera (LIR) is designed to obtain data on cloud heights, particle sizes and carbon monoxide levels. The UV Imager (UVI) is intended to record the distribution of sulfur oxides and previously unknown substances in the Venusian atmosphere. The probe is also used for technology testing; new types of lithium-ion batteries are on board.

As a further specialty, the probe has thin aluminum plates on board, on which the names of 260,000 people are engraved .

Web links

Commons : Akatsuki  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Venus Climate Orbiter "PLANET-C" Nicknamed "AKATSUKI". JAXA, October 23, 2009, accessed November 12, 2009 .
  2. ↑ Venus Meteorology AKATSUKI (PLANET-C). JAXA, accessed December 9, 2010 .
  3. ^ H-2A Launch Report - Mission Status Center. Spaceflight Now, May 20, 2010, accessed June 4, 2010 .
  4. ↑ ISAS / JAXA: Present Status of Planet-C in 2007 (PDF; 708 kB), January 2007
  5. ^ H-2A Launch Report - Mission Status Center. Spaceflight Now, May 20, 2010, accessed May 20, 2010 .
  6. ↑ Paul Kallender-Umezu: Japanese Akatsuki Probe Fails To Enter Orbit Around Venus. Space News, December 13, 2010, accessed January 10, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Japan's Akatsuki probe fails to enter Venus orbit. BBC, December 8, 2010, accessed December 9, 2010 .
  8. ^ Günther Glatzel: Akatsuki: no Venus orbit. raumfahrer.net, December 8, 2010, accessed December 9, 2010 .
  9. ↑ Nakamura, M .; Kawakatsu, Y .; Hirose, C .; Imamura, T .; Ishii, N .; Abe, T .; Yamazaki, A .; Yamada, M .; Ogohara, K .; Uemizu, K .; Fukuhara, T .; Ohtsuki, S .; Satoh, T .; Suzuki, M .; Ueno, M .; Nakatsuka, J .; Iwagami, N .; Taguchi, M .; Watanabe, S .; Takahashi, Y .; Hashimoto, GL; Yamamoto, H. (2014). Return to Venus of the Japanese Venus Climate Orbiter AKATSUKI . Acta Astronautica 93: 384-389. doi: 10.1016 / j.actaastro.2013.07.027
  10. ↑ JAXA: Venus Climate Orbiter “AKATSUKI” Result of Attitude Control Engine Thrust Operation for Venus Orbit Insertion (VOI-R1). JAXA, December 7, 2015, accessed December 8, 2010 .
  11. ↑ Stephen Clark: Japanese orbiter officially begins science mission at Venus. Spaceflight Now, May 17, 2016, accessed May 18, 2016 .
  12. ↑ 「あ か つ き」 定 常 観 測 フ ェ ー ズ 終了 ( Japanese ) May 2018.
  13. ↑ a b FliegerRevue July 2010, p. 45, Venussonde and Ikaros-Segel