Time’s up for Japan’s ambitious “Planet C” mission! After a fifteen-year journey, the Aerospace Exploration Agency of Japan (JAXA) has officially declared the end of interactions with the Venus probe, leaving us without any current presence around our planetary neighbor.
Back in May 2010, JAXA launched the “Planet C” spacecraft, which also went by “Akatsuki” or the Venus Climate Orbiter, aiming for a close encounter with Venus, our “sister planet.” Unfortunately, things didn’t kick off as smoothly as planned. As the probe buzzed close to Venus in December 2010, a hiccup occurred during its deceleration phase. The spacecraft was supposed to perform a 12-minute engine burnout but it unexpectedly cut off just after 3 minutes, overshooting its target.
Instead of throwing in the towel, JAXA got crafty! They managed to use the spacecraft’s auxiliary control system to tweak its path while it orbited the Sun, and by 2015, they confidently placed it successfully into orbit around Venus.
Through precise measuring and trajectory adjustments made after that rocky engine mishap, they announced in 2015 that the orbiter was now caught in an elliptical orbit, swooping as low as 400 kilometers above Venus and stretching out an impressive 440,000 kilometers away. Not to mention, this new orbit allowed the probe to align itself with Venus’s rotation!
Before long, “Akatsuki” started sending exciting photos and data our way, helping bristle up our basic understanding of Venus’s atmospheric conditions. Even though it didn’t hold the initial orbit it had set for itself, the final trajectory surprisingly turned out to be pretty beneficial.
NASA elaborated, stating that various meteorological insights, including global cloud mappings and lightning detection via a speedy imager, emerged thanks to the probe’s continuous observations. This unique orbit has enabled exceptional data collection concerning Venus’ Upper Atmosphere—knowledge that’s simply never been available to us before.
Check out this YouTube video discussing the mission!
As it happens, tech issues popped up again, with the probe shutting down two of its five cameras back in 2016 just to keep things rolling. But as the years passed, the inevitable age of this elderly spacecraft caught up with it. Fast forward to April 2024, and JAXA experienced a communication blackout with “Planet C.” After many attempts to restore connection, they ultimately confirmed a year later that they would officially wrap up the ops for humanity’s sole rescue vessel orbiting Venus.
In a formal statement, JAXA noted: “Communication with ‘Akatsuki’ was lost in late April due to a prolonged incident with low-precision control methods. Although recovery efforts were tackled tirelessly, we were unable to regain contact. Considering the age of the spacecraft surpassing its expect lifespan in late-stage operation, continuing tasks is no longer feasible.”
JAXA then expressed heartfelt goodbye sentiments for “Akatsuki,” which gathered observations about Venus for over eight years, pinpointing milestones in planetary meteorology like the detection of giant stationary gravity waves and even sussing out the mechanics behind fast cloud movements known as atmospheric super-rotation.
Interestingly, don’t lose hope! Despite humans taking a break from directly observing Venus with probes, there hammers being paid attention toward potential new missions. NASA is looking to roll out three new projects—DAVINCI, VERITAS, and the collaborative ESA mission called EnVision—set to grace the skies again for ventures in the late 2020s and early 2030s. Fingers crossed they survive the impending budget circumstances, ensuring we eventually learn more about the mysteries Venus holds, especially concerning those tantalizing biosignatures spotted during recent observations.
