14 DAY TRIAL // In December 2010, the Akatsuki space probe developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) overshoot Venus, after it was unable to break sufficiently fast to allow for the planet's gravitational pull to take it into a stable orbit.
The failure came as a shock for JAXA, since it was its second space exploration mission in a row to fail. Still, even in those dark times, experts realized that not all was lost this time. After the initial shock passed, they went to work to see if they could salvage anything.
Immediately, calculations revealed that the spacecraft – the first weather satellite destined for another planet – could try for a second orbital insertion in 2016 or 2017. The newest data indicate that Akatsuki could make its way in Venusian orbit as early as 2015.
These results were reviewed after JAXA engineers achieved a major mission milestone on Wednesday, September 7. The teams studying the issues that led to the probe's failure were able to restart its main thrusters, therefore restoring propulsion to the orbiter.
Wednesday's test saw that engine being fired for only two seconds. However, that was enough to give researchers a wealth of data from various onboard sensors, which they now plan to analyze for useful information. Several more tests will be conducted over the next few weeks.
The next one will take place next Wednesday, on September 14, JAXA experts say. The first, real operational burn is currently scheduled for November, assuming the other assessments go well.
The spacecraft launched on May 20 aboard an H-2A delivery system, together with the IKAROS solar sail demonstrator. The latter was successful in showing that the power of sunlight can be harnessed for space travel, whereas Akatsuki failed to achieve orbital insertion.
Among the mission's primary objectives, experts included the discovery and analysis of lightnings and active volcanoes, as well as studies of Venusian clouds. Recently, it was determined that the planet's sulfur cycle is not as well understood as experts liked to think.
Another one of the greatest mysteries related to the Venusian atmosphere is the presence of lightning in its clouds, given that most of the “air” there is made up of sulfuric acid and other similar compounds.
Understanding the Venusian “super-rotation,” the phenomenon that causes the formation of powerful winds in the atmosphere, was also one of the main topic of study.
This process drives around clouds at speeds of over 360 kilometers per hour, or 220 miles per hour. This means that the atmosphere spins about 60 times faster than Venus itself does, Space reports.