Akatsuki

From Spacefaring

Q416448




Akatsuki , also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, was a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) space probe tasked with studying the atmosphere of Venus. It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on 20 May 2010, but failed to enter orbit around Venus on 6 December 2010. After the craft orbited the Sun for five years, engineers successfully placed it into an alternative Venusian elliptic orbit on 7 December 2015 by firing its attitude control thrusters for 20 minutes and made it the first Japanese satellite orbiting Venus.

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PLANET-C; Venus Climate Orbiter
orbiterplanetary probe

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    Configuration of Akatsuki spacecraft (left) and a photograph of the spacecraft with the solar array paddles being folded (right).Configuration of Akatsuki spacecraft (left) and a photograph of the spacecraft with the solar array paddles being folded (right).
    Schematic of the three-dimensional observation by Akatsuki.Schematic of the three-dimensional observation by Akatsuki.
    Movement of the spacecraft orbit and Venus in a Sun-Earth line fixed rotating coordinate in the original plan. Numerals in the figure indicate days after VOI.Movement of the spacecraft orbit and Venus in a Sun-Earth line fixed rotating coordinate in the original plan. Numerals in the figure indicate days after VOI.
    Spacecraft orbit about Venus seen from the north (upper) and from the equatorial plane (lower)Spacecraft orbit about Venus seen from the north (upper) and from the equatorial plane (lower)
    Configuration of Akatsuki spacecraft (left) and a photograph of the spacecraft with the solar array paddles being folded (right).Configuration of Akatsuki spacecraft (left) and a photograph of the spacecraft with the solar array paddles being folded (right).
    Schematic of the three-dimensional observation by Akatsuki.Schematic of the three-dimensional observation by Akatsuki.
    Movement of the spacecraft orbit and Venus in a Sun-Earth line fixed rotating coordinate in the original plan. Numerals in the figure indicate days after VOI.Movement of the spacecraft orbit and Venus in a Sun-Earth line fixed rotating coordinate in the original plan. Numerals in the figure indicate days after VOI.
    Spacecraft orbit about Venus seen from the north (upper) and from the equatorial plane (lower)Spacecraft orbit about Venus seen from the north (upper) and from the equatorial plane (lower)
    JAXA ISAS`s exploration JAXA ISAS's exploration "Akatsuki" press conference.
    JAXA ISAS`s exploration JAXA ISAS's exploration "Akatsuki" press conference.