Japanese Venus Climate Orbiter/AKATSUKI was proposed in 2001 with strong support by international Venus science community and approved as an ISAS (The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) mission soon after the proposal. The mission life we expected was more than two Earth years in Venus orbit. AKATSUKI was successfully launched at 06:58:22JST on May 21, 2010, by H-IIA F17. After the separation from H-IIA, the telemetry from AKATSUKI was normally detected by DSN Goldstone station (10:00JST) and the solar cell paddles' deployment was confirmed. After a successful cruise, the malfunction happened on the propulsion system during the Venus orbit insertion (VOI) on Dec. 7, 2010. The engine shut down before the planned reduction in speed to achieve. The spacecraft did not enter the Venus orbit but entered an orbit around the Sun with a period of 203 days. Most of the fuel still had remained, but the orbital maneuvering engine was found to be broken and unusable. However, we have found an alternate way of achieving orbit by using only the reaction control system (RSC). We had adopted the alternate way for orbital maneuver and three minor maneuvers in Nov. 2011 were successfully done so that AKATSUKI would meet Venus in 2015. We are considering several scenarios for VOI using only RCS.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Return to Venus of the Japanese Venus Climate Orbiter AKATSUKI



    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2014




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    BKL:    50.93 / 50.93 Weltraumforschung / 55.60 Raumfahrttechnik / 55.60
    Local classification TIB:    050/7040




    Design of the Recovery Trajectory for JAXA Venus Orbiter Akatsuki

    Campagnola, Stefano / Kawakatsu, Yasuhiro | Springer Verlag | 2015


    Design of the Recovery Trajectory for JAXA Venus Orbiter Akatsuki

    Campagnola, Stefano / Kawakatsu, Yasuhiro | Online Contents | 2015


    Design of the Recovery Trajectory for JAXA Venus Orbiter Akatsuki

    Campagnola, Stefano | Online Contents | 2015


    Orbit Determination Results of Akatsuki, (Planet-C) Mission -Venus Climate Orbiter- (AAS 11-506)

    Ichikawa, T. / Ishii, N. / Takeuchi, H. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2012