Akatsuki (spacecraft)
Artist's concept of the Akatsuki spacecraft in orbit around Venus
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| Mission type | Venus orbiter |
|---|---|
| Operator | JAXA |
| COSPAR ID | 2010-020D |
| SATCAT no. | 36576 |
| Website |
JAXA JAXA Special Site |
| Mission duration | ~2 years (science phase) elapsed: 6 years, 10 months and 3 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | NEC Space Technologies |
| Launch mass | 517.6 kg (1,141 lb) |
| Dry mass | 320 kg (710 lb) |
| Power | >700 watts at 0.7 AU |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 20 May 2010, 21:58:22 UTC |
| Rocket | H-IIA 202 |
| Launch site | Tanegashima Yoshinobu 1 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Cytherocentric |
| Pericytherion | 400 kilometres (250 mi) |
| Apocytherion | 440,000 kilometres (270,000 mi) |
| Inclination | 3° |
| Period | 9 days |
| Flyby of Venus (failed insertion) | |
| Closest approach | 6 December 2010, 23:49:00 UTC |
| Venus orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | 7 December 2015 |
Akatsuki (あかつき, 暁?, "Dawn"), also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, is a Japanese (JAXA) space probe tasked to study the atmosphere of Venus. It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on 20 May 2010, and failed to enter orbit around Venus on 6 December 2010. After the craft orbited the Sun for five years, engineers placed it into an alternative elliptical Venusian orbit on 7 December 2015 by firing its attitude control thrusters for 20 minutes. By using five different cameras, Akatsuki will study the stratification of the atmosphere, atmospheric dynamics, and cloud physics. Astronomers working on the mission reported detecting a possible gravity wave that occurred on the planet Venus in December 2015.
Akatsuki is a Japanese space mission to the planet Venus. Planned observations include cloud and surface imaging from an orbit around the planet with an infrared camera, which are aimed at investigation of the complex Venusian meteorology. Other experiments are designed to confirm the presence of lightning and to determine whether volcanism occurs currently on Venus. In most planets, the atmosphere circulates much slower than the rotation speed of the planet. However, on Venus, while the planet rotates at 6 km/h at the equator, the atmosphere spins around the planet at 300 km/h.
Akatsuki is Japan's first planetary exploration mission since the failed Mars orbiter Nozomi probe which was launched in 1998. Akatsuki was originally intended to conduct scientific research for two or more years from an elliptical orbit around Venus ranging from 300 to 80,000 km (190 to 49,710 mi) in altitude, but its alternate orbit, yet to be characterized, had to be highly elliptical. The budget for this mission is ¥14.6 billion (US$174 million) for the satellite and ¥9.8 billion (US$116 million) for the launch.
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