Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter Options

[punkboi]

Weather forecast to be bleak for pretty much this entire week. Akatsuki / IKAROS have till June 3 to get off the ground.

[nprev]

Read my mind, PB; I was just editing my post to ask about launch window length. Thanks!

[tedstryk]

Glad they scrubbed it. Eli's exploding diaper would have caused me to miss it. Yes!!!!

[punkboi]

The weather at Tanegashima probably won't be ideal for launch till May 25 (Tuesday). Darn.

[punkboi]

NEW LAUNCH DATE SET: May 21 at 6:58:22 AM, Japan Time (May 20, 5:58:22 PM, EDT...or 21:58:22 UTC)

http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f17/topics_e.html

[brellis]

I'd rather see a scrubbed launch than a failed launch like OCO. That was painful, watching the reactions of the team when they lost communications.

Brings to mind a question. When was the last time weather actually caused a launch failure on a significant mission?

[ugordan]

When was the last time weather actually caused a launch failure on a significant mission?

There's the Atlas/Centaur-67 launch. I can't think of a more recent directly weather-induced failure.

[punkboi]

H-2A at the pad once more..

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[punkboi]

Congrats to JAXA for the successful launch of Akatsuki and IKAROS (plus those 4 smaller satellites)!

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[punkboi]

Initial Operation Result of
the Venus Climate Orbiter 'AKATSUKI'

May 21, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)


The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received the signal transmitted from the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" at the Uchinoura Space Center at 4:40 p.m. on May 21, 2010 (Japan Standard Time, JST), and confirmed that the scheduled sequence of events including the solar array paddle deployment and sun acquisition were successfully performed.

The AKATSUKI was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center at 6:58:22 a.m. on May 21, 2010 (JST)

The orbiter is currently in a healthy state.

We are preparing for the AKATSUKI injection into the Venus orbit in early December while checking functions of the onboard equipment and controlling the attitude and orbit.

We would like to express our profound appreciation for the cooperation and support of all related personnel and organizations that helped contribute to the successful launch and tracking and control operations of the AKATSUKI.

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/05/20100521_akatsuki_e.html


The Operation Status of
the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator 'IKAROS'

May 22, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) acquired the signal transmitted from the IKAROS at the Usuda Deep Space Station and confirmed its solar power generation and stable posture, and established communications. We will turn on onboard devices one by one.

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/05/20100522_ikaros_e.html

[punkboi]

'First Light' images taken of Earth with Akatsuki's LIR, UVI and IR1 instruments

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[Paolo]

some updates on Unitec http://sites.google.com/site/unitec1ops/home

[punkboi]

IKAROS moves to Verification Experiment Phase

May 24, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) completed the initial
operation check of the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator "IKAROS,"
which was launched on May 21, 2010 (Japan Standard Time,) from the
Tanegashima Space Center.

We will take a few weeks to carry out the first verification
experiments, namely deployment of the solar sail and solar power
generation by thin film solar cells.


This page URL:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/05/20100524_ikaros_e.html

[Paolo]

Latest UNITEC status update:

We haven't received the UNITEC-1 signal after 21 May 2010, 18:00 (UTC).
We very much appreciate if you send any reception or information for UNITEC-1.

[4th rock from th...]

Here's a composite of the 3 first light images. I've added the LIR image as luminance (inverted) just for aesthetic effect.