Hum Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 (CNN) -- Japan's space probe has failed to go into orbit around Venus, the country's space agency said Wednesday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said it lost communication with the probe temporarily. When it reestablished contact, it learned that Akatsuki had not entered Venus' orbit as it was scheduled to do Tuesday. "We are sorry that we could not live up to the expectation of the people in Japan," Masato Nakamura, the project team leader said at a news conference. Akatsuki, whose name means "dawn," was supposed to observe Venus for two years, the agency said. Launched six months ago, its aim is to gather data on a Venusian wind pattern called super-rotation. The refrigerator-sized probe is also supposed to study the sulfuric acid that envelops the planet and look for lightning. A near-infrared camera on the probe also can peer through the murky atmosphere to get a glimpse of the planet's surface. source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 That sucks :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted December 8, 2010 Supervisor Share Posted December 8, 2010 The must be gutted. All that work and it goes wrong in a couple of minutes. This made me smile though: "We are sorry that we could not live up to the expectation of the people in Japan," Masato Nakamura, the project team leader said at a news conference. It just seems like something the Japanese would say. I wouldn't expect NASA to say the same thing if they got it wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted December 8, 2010 Supervisor Share Posted December 8, 2010 Seeing as how it is Japan, they'll probably figure out a way to get it there in six years and a dozen solar orbits later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven P. Administrators Posted December 8, 2010 Administrators Share Posted December 8, 2010 :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 What caused it to not establish orbit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoneAvail Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 When did Japan enter the space race with Russia and the US? :laugh::laugh: Other than that, I'd like to know as well why it couldn't go into orbit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 Proof the Venusians are still watching :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewJW Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I blame alien igloos, and giant jpeg pies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Don't they say, "Women are from Venus"?... someone got PROBE-Blocked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2xSilverKnight Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 this is not the first time this happens. They approach the planet and the probe goes A-Wire. It also happened to probes who reached phobos. :alien: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey B. Veteran Posted December 8, 2010 Veteran Share Posted December 8, 2010 That would really suck. Also as soon as i read the name all i could think of was Naruto being that Akatsuki was the bad guys in part of it and it failed. Perhaps its failing was in its name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighwayGlider Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 That would really suck. Also as soon as i read the name all i could think of was Naruto being that Akatsuki was the bad guys in part of it and it failed. Perhaps its failing was in its name. lol. As soon as I read Akatsuki, I thought of Tobi. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan R. Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 It just seems like something the Japanese would say. I wouldn't expect NASA to say the same thing if they got it wrong. Indeed. Japanese culture is greatly involved in honor and reputation. Without doubt the Japanese team responsible is deeply apologetic and probably feel they have dishonored their families and country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paustin Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 wow this is not the week to have sucess in space....first the Russians dump 3 sattelites in the ocean and now this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted December 8, 2010 Global Moderator Share Posted December 8, 2010 I never like hearing that space missions go wrong. It just slows down the time it takes to learn about our solar system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 That's really a shame.. I'm sure they'll figure out what went wrong and fix it. And I'm sure they have a Plan B. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setnom Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 They do have a plan: hopefully, try a new orbital insertion six-seven years from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted December 9, 2010 Member Share Posted December 9, 2010 That's a shame, especially after all that hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentralDogma Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 They really need to find a way to make these things more efficiently. That way, something like this wouldn't be that big of a deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoredBozirini Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Madara's fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Indeed. Japanese culture is greatly involved in honor and reputation. Without doubt the Japanese team responsible is deeply apologetic and probably feel they have dishonored their families and country. if Nasa had something go wrong like this, everyone involved would be feeling exactly the same way as the people who worked on the Japanese Venus probe .... its just that the culture there makes them express it in a different way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted December 10, 2010 Author Share Posted December 10, 2010 So did this probe 'miss' the planet and go off into space ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted December 10, 2010 Supervisor Share Posted December 10, 2010 I think it's down to the calculations at the beginning which caused it to miss. Either that or the loss of communication was during a crucial time where they needed to angle the probe slightly so that it would enter Venus's orbit. Either way, yes to your question, I imagine that the probe missed the planet's orbit and is now on it's way out of our solar system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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