if I understand this JAXA release correctlym Akatsuki is to fire its thrusters three times from July 17th to correct its trajectory and test the thrusters in view of the orbit insertion
http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/t...html#topics5052

The last course correction in November 2011 was also split into three parts with several days between them to track the probe and refine the next correction.

there is also a release in English saying the same
http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_...html#topics5055

With the distinct lack of any near-future action on any other Venus spacecraft, I really hope JAXA can pull this save off and recover at least a portion of the original mission plan. They have some form in this 'miracle' area after all!

P

course correction was apparently successful
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/topics/topics/2015/0805.shtml (in Japanese)

Thanks, Paolo

What follows is the JAXA announcement translated.

On the result of orbit correction operation of Akatsuki

We at JAXA conducted an orbit correction operation at the end of July for the planned re-insertion of the orbiter Akatsuki on
7 December 2015.

From the analysis of the telemetry data obtained by 2 August we came to the conclusion as on 17:30 4 August (JST) that
the planned correction had been successfully achieved. We send our thanks to all those concerend who provided support for this operation.

P

Great news!

now all JAXA has to do is get the darned thing into some kindov orbit

this may yet be Hayabusa-like great escape

P

http://global.jaxa.jp/messages/akatsuki.html

Second chance !!

JAXA has some videos on youtube showing the trajectory of Akatsuki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INtz0VSKTrU and the longer development until mid January https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-NHNx4AyeY

They also plan a livestream for a press conference on Dec 9th, but I guess without any subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3PFCSi7qPw

a long presentation for the VOI press conference
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/j/topics/topics/20...09_akatsuki.pdf

Emily has an excellent blog post up for the insertion timeline. First (and hopefully only) thruster firing scheduled for 6 Dec/2351 UTC, planned duration approx. 20 min.

Here's a great real-time simulation of the event.
http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/orbview/m..._insertion.html

(Edit: Ah yes I see Sanjay Limaye already posted a link in his Planetary Society blog post!)

How is this attempt going? - I see we're 20 minutes from closest approach.

Stream here (in Japanese): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6-BUPTZVKA

Quality isn't high enough to make out any cans of Lipovitan D....

Ah, now I see in the real-time simulation that we're T-400 seconds from the RCS thruster firing. Crossing fingers or whatever the Japanese equivalent is!

Thx for the link. Wish I could understand the Japanese commentary...

Click to view attachment

Thanks, Paolo

I have been inactive lately because of preparation for living in Borneo.
I am now just about settled in Kota Kinabalu and if re-insertion is OK
I will translate this rather lengthy document for posterity. If it fails
I still might.

At the time of sending this I cannot find any news about the fate of Akatsuki.

Pandaneko

Thrusting is progressing acc. to the real-time simulation, I wonder if it is in reality too?

Click to view attachment

Burn complete acc. to time-line. Still no confirmation of a succesful burn. The data should come down soon though.

2 minutes until the confirmation comes down whether the first burn went well!

Data being received per my wife!

Handshakes in mission control!

Yup, JAXA Mission Control reports that the insertion burn went well. Congratulations!

Per my wife again, the commentators emphasized that it'll take a couple of days of tracking & analysis to verify that the insertion was fully successful. But, yes, congratulations JAXA!

Congrats, JAXA! Been pulling for you and Akatsuki for a long time.

I also confirm from local Japanese newspapers that the insertion was successful. I will be translating the large document Paolo dug out.

Pandaneko

The first successful planetary orbit insertion by Japan

Good news. Congrats to JAXA.

For those who missed the excitement (palpable online, seemingly muted but intense in Mission Control), I have uploaded a bit of the webcast: https://youtu.be/NVpIz6CjT3o
- As you can see Emilys tweets were my go-to source for information, together with the youtube chat window (that she also used...).

we will probably know in two days whether the orbit insertion was succesful:

http://www.nature.com/news/japan-orbiter-s...=TWT_NatureNews
"Update, 7 December (1:40 a.m. BST): Japan's Akatsuki mission has entered orbit around Venus. The spacecraft burned its engines as planned on 7 December and was captured by Venus's gravity, says team member Sanjay Limaye, a planetary scientist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Over the next two days, mission scientists will track the spacecraft and determine how closely the orbit matches what scientists had hoped for. That information is expected to be released at 6 p.m. Japan time (9 a.m. BST) on 9 December."

A few notes summarizing the news as we know it:

The initial orbit for Akatsuki is certainly much more elongated than originally planned, but a future burn may make it less elongated. In any event, the elongated orbit will reduce the temporal coverage from original plans, but qualitatively, the data collected near periapsis should be as good as planned.

Differences between Akatsuki and Venus Express include:
1) Akatsuki is planned to be in a more equatorial orbit as opposed to VEx's polar orbit. Even if things did not go precisely as planned, it is all but certain to be in an orbit with inclination that complements that of VEx.

2) VEx had a total failure of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) instrument that was designed to make observations in IR. Akatsuki should be able to fill in some of what was lost, making IR observations relevant to atmospheric structure and composition, distribution of minor atmospheric components, and surface temperature.

So, if we get any data at all out of Akatsuki, this is great news.

Congratulations of JAXA and the Japanese for saving another mission from the brink of disaster.

Sanjay Limaye :
I walk over to the Akatsuki Project Office and am greeted by Takeshi Imamura who promptly shows me one of the two images taken yesterday. It is a UVI image and it is one of the best images of Venus I have seen. Akatsuki’s UVI is a 1024x1024 CCD, similar to MESSENGER’s Wide Angle Camera (WAC). But MESSENGER's WAC did not have a 365 nm filter. I learn that the image will be released at the Wednesday evening briefing.

Venus Express is about to start our (probably) final Science Working Team meeting. We will raise a glass to celebrate Akatsuki's insertion. We are all very disappointed that we never got to do all our planned joint operations. But we are thrilled for the Akatsuki team that they have this rebirth of their mission. The torch has been passed! Best of luck!

Press release from JAXA (complete with pictures) here:

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2015/12/20151209_akatsuki.html

It will be interesting to compare this full-size Akatsuki image (1024 x1024) with images taken by Mariner 10 and Pioneer Venus Orbiter.
Click to view attachment

The recovery of Akatsuki is an amazing success story. It looks like we're going to get some great science, and the initial images are already intriguing.

full resolution pictures are available here:
http://jda.jaxa.jp/category_p.php?lang=e&a...mp;page_pics=50

Is the apparent striping real or some artifact of the camera/processing?

There are certainly artifacts in the image. Faint stripes that are always straight and parallel in the image and do not mold to the shape of the planet near the limb are certain to originate in the camera, not the planet.

And Venus Express (and even Galileo and Messenger) images. These images look very promising. JAXA seems to be remarkably resourceful when their spacecraft have problems (Hayabusa is the ultimate example of this). Congratulations to JAXA!

Wow, what timing!

pics from the IR2 camera
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/topics/2015/1217.shtml

This is not terribly important. According to recent news reports here,

Akatsuki's orbit duration has been made longer, from previous 10.5 days to 10.8 days,
so that its observation life time is now longer, from prevous 800 days to 2,000 days.

P

lots of new info (and a few unpublished pics) in this presentation (in Japanese)
http://fanfun.jaxa.jp/jaxatv/files/20160331_akatsuki.pdf

These and a number of others were shown at the Venus Conference in Oxford this week. There have been the usual
early commissioning activities and hiccups but some good results will be emerging in due course.

Thank you, Paolo

I have started translating this document, and the first few pages are as follows.
I also am aware that I have not yet worked on something else that somebody mentioned.
It will have to be a while, I think.

page-1

Interim report on test observtions by Venus Orbiter Akatsuki (Planet-C)
31 March 2016
Akatsuki Project Team
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)

page-2

Outline of interim report
Given that test observations to date have been making steady progress
after the successful insertion of Akatsuki into the planned orbit we aim to report on

1. status of Akatsuki now and preperationfor normal observation
2. status of preperation of each instrument on borad Akatsuki
3. Scientific results seen from the observed data to date

page-3

status of Akatsuki now and preperationfor normal observation

page-4

Current status of Akatsuki
• It is more or less flying in the intended orbit through orbit correction on 20 December 2015
in the wake of insertion into Venus circulating orbit (VOI) on 7 December 2015

• Instrument booting has been smoothe at the time of this reporting
• Observations worth minimum success Criteria　have been already completed
• Current objective is to achieve goals of the research plan set before launch leading to full success criteria
• Current orbiting mostly allows for low resolution images due to the high altitude of furthest point,
but it is intended to compensate for this demerrit through data aquisition over a long period.

useful as always, pandaneko!

What follows is the contents of page 5 minus the graphics translation. I will do that seperately
as it is a little complicated.

Page-5 (Excluding graphics portions in the middle)

Outline of Venus orbiter Akatsuki

Objective

Contribute towards the establishment of planetary atmospherics studies which is the key to understanding climatic changes
on earth by clarifying the mechanisms of Venetian atmospheric dynamics and super rotation.

Atmospheric phenomena on Venus are hidden by thick cloud banks and we aim to use our latest infra red instruments
to make observations with a view to understandg earth climatology.

* Satellite external appearance *
(Note: Broken orbit insertion engine on the left of picture)

3-D data from lightening sensor and multi wave lenghts cameras in infra red and unltra violet regions

* Ellucidating Venetian atmospherics *

・ Establishing planetary climatology
・ Understanding of earth environmental changes

* Design specifications (at launch time) *
・Mass: 480kg
・Launch date: 21 May 2010
・Orbit: Venetian circular
Height: 300km to 80,000km
・Time to Venus: Approx. 6 months
・Mission period: Approx. 2 years upon arrival

* Development Schedule *

2002-2003 Basics studies
2004-2006 Satellite testing
2007-2009 Satellite construction
2009 Operational confirmation
2010 Launch

P