Akatsuki successfully moved into Venus orbit on 7 December 2015

The Article from Akatsuki successfully moved into Venus orbit on 7 December 2015.

 

After five years Akatsuki, Japanese space probe, was injected on Venus orbit.

Failed injecting into Venus orbit five years ago fortunately not repeated. With utilization of Reaction Control Thrusters (main propulsion failed and ground control was unable to start it), after 19 minute of continuous work, Akatsuki was moved into designated orbit.

Technical aspect of placing Akatsuki into correct Venus orbit was difficult experiment. First of all, main propulsion of the spacecraft was not working due the failed valve in the fuel system. Spacecraft, due the short distance from Sun, was overheated and after five years of hibernation it was not sure that every systems will work correctly. Another challenge was performing all maneuvers with additional stabilizing thrusters. They were designed to give short impulses of thrust but not for continuous 19 minute work. But it seems that everything went fine, and Akatsuki reached designated elliptical orbit (500000 km x 320000 km instead planned for 2010 300 km x 72000 km – it is caused by insufficient thrust of control thrusters to reach original orbit). After

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