Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter Options

[Paolo]

I thought it was time to start a separate thread on this mission, launching soon
some good medium-resolution images of the spacecraft are available on JAXA digital archives
http://jda.jaxa.jp/jda/p3_e.php?time=N&...mp;mission=4066

[dtolman]

Out of genuine curiosity - is there some major difference in the mission management of NASA & ESA, versus the Japanese agency?

Perhaps it is the small sample size, but it seems they haven't been able to a launch any missions the past decade that don't have some serious problem. Do they lack the budget to simulate as many scenarios as NASA/ESA? Don't have as vigorous testing of components? Just plain lack of experience?

At this point, with this history of failures, I have to think that these aren't isolated incidences and they are missing some critical ingredient that NASA & ESA just get right - but I don't have any idea what it could be...

[spdf]

... At this point, with this history of failures, I have to think that these aren't isolated incidences and they are missing some critical ingredient that NASA & ESA just get right - but I don't have any idea what it could be...

Their failure rate is quite low. Their last failure in the science programm was in 2000 when the Astro-E astronomy mission got lost during launch. The only failure in the 1990s was Nozomi. Except for these two all the missions were successful to very successful. Some things got lost in translation between English and Japanese, if I remember it correct this was the reason why Astro-EII lost one of its instruments. But still the mission is producing results. Solar-B lost its x-band downlink, so they had to include more ground stations. Reimei, Akari, SELENE, IKAROS, Hayabusa ... did (or are still doing) a great job.

[ElkGroveDan]

Reimei, Akari, SELENE, IKAROS, Hayabusa ... did (or are still doing) a great job.

Hayabusa eventually achieved it's goal, and we all admire the skill of the JAXA engineers for bringing the crippled craft home, but let's be realistic. It WAS a crippled craft and the mission was plagued with one crisis after another. The brilliant solutions for adapting and working around these failures brought Hayabusa back from near death more than a few times.

That said, I don't think there is a pattern in any of this and as far as I'm concerned the Japanese Space program is to be applauded.

[spdf]

Hayabusa ... It WAS a crippled craft and the mission was plagued with one crisis after another. The brilliant solutions for adapting and working around these failures brought Hayabusa back from near death more than a few times.

But since noone tried this stunt before, and noone knew before how the asteroid looked like, I think it might have been inevitable that Hayabusa became crippled.
Here are some of the lessons learned from Hayabusa:
http://sci2.esa.int/Conferences/MarcoPolo-...Hajime_Yano.pdf

[ElkGroveDan]

I agree with you. But you still can't pretend that it was a smooth, successful mission.

[spdf]

I agree with you. But you still can't pretend that it was a smooth, successful mission.

Sorry, I did not want to pretend it was a smooth mission. But in the end they got what they paid for. Nevermind.

Here is some information about the thruster on Akatsuki. If this was the cause than puting it into orbit in 6 years might be impossible.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/201012...0na006000c.html