Although the Akatsuki probe was supposed to arrive at Venus in December 2010, the Japanese spacecraft's engine failure caused it to miss its target and make its way into the sun's orbit. However, this past December, Akatsuki's handlers guided the craft back to Venus and are now ready to again begin a science operation that focuses on Earth's "sister planet."
"Akatsuki has been performing test observations by turning on its onboard observation instruments one by one," officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement.
"The instruments are starting up normally, and we have already conducted successful observations that are equivalent to a 'minimum success,' thus we will move to regular operations in mid-April," " they added.
The Akatsuki spacecraft, which means "dawn" in Japanese, cost $300 million to design and was crafted with the intention of examining Venus' clouds, weather and atmosphere from a close distance using six different instruments to acquire data. Ideally, scientists will use these observations to better understand how the unique planet, which is believed to have been Earth-like billions of years ago, became so hot and inhospitable to life.
Although the plan for the unique Japanese spacecraft was for it to orbit Venus once every 30 hours at a maximum distance of 50,000 miles, the agency's second attempt put the probe in a 13-day orbit approximately 273,000 miles from the planet's surface.
Over the past few months, the team has been aiming for a nine-day orbit at 193,000 miles from the planet, a goal that they hope to achieve by the time the Akatsuki's observations on Venus begin.
The probe's first attempt at a Venus orbit back in December 2010 failed due to thermal issues, which threw the spacecraft into safe mode. When JAXA scientists were unable to restore it to its standard operational mode, they failed to perform the necessary maneuvers, throwing the probe into the sun's orbit. However, using high-precision thruster firings, they managed to turn the craft back to Venus.
The Akatsuki Japanese spacecraft launched in May 2010 alongside JAXA's Ikaros probe, and scientists believe that it will be able to accomplish all of their originally set goals when in the aforementioned orbit.
