Japanese spacecraft fails to enter Venus orbit

[Reacher]

Source: MSNBC

TOKYO — Japanese scientists say a probe sent on a two-year mission to Venus has failed to enter orbit and may have flown passed the planet.
The probe, called Akatsuki, which means dawn, appears to have not fired its engines enough to inject it into the proper orbit after it passed near Venus. Japan's space agency, called JAXA, said it still had communication with the probe.
Akatsuki, launched May 20, was designed to monitor volcanic activity on Venus and provide data on its thick cloud cover and climate, including whether the planet has lightning. The probe is equipped with infrared cameras and other instruments to carry out its mission.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40542718

---

I'll wager the accelerator stuck.




BaWaWaWawAhaaa,

I kill myself sometimes.

[Po_d Mainiac]

1. Yup..Those pre-recall floor mats done it again.

Better the over-shoot, than wiping out some poor Venusian life form on their way home from work.

Earth don't need an inter-solar SHTF moment too.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. "...may have flown PASSED the planet"?

What kind of semi-literate intern wrote that?

[thelordofhell]

4. Obviously the same intern who helped design the engines

:shrug:

[AtheistCrusader]

16. Maybe one that doesn't have english as a first language?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. On the contrary, THAT error indicates the writer's first language IS English. -nt

[AtheistCrusader]

23. Probably right, actually.

[Blue_Tires]

22. I can speak from experience:

For media outlets trimming costs, dedicated copy editors are usually first to get chopped off...

[ZombieHorde]

3. Not the first time a man failed to probe Venus. nt

[Monk06]

10. If there was some hair on that Venus I'm sure the Japanese would have hit it.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. nope...

the russians lost several probes to venus.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. Thanks, folks....I needed a laugh tonight. This thread did it!

:rofl:

[Orrex]

6. Another tragic case of Venus envy

[The Doctor.]

7. You beat me to it.

[The Doctor.]

8. (From 'Gung Ho') "In Japan, we piss for accuracy"

... But apparently not for telemetry.

Seriously though, this sucks. We all lost on this one, and the jokes really don't compensate.

[Monk06]

9. Missed it by that much. >< Doh !!!! Someone is falling on their sword 2nite !!!

[JVS]

11. Somewhere in North Korea rocket scientists are laughing hard.

[Rex]

12. They should have used the Venus Fly Trap maneuver.

It is on page 6 of the manual.

[cowcommander]

13. Space exploration is such an unbelievably expensive endeavor

Money counts for everything here, you really do need the best minds and the best tech money can buy or you'll end up with more failures like this. We'll never get anywhere in space until it becomes a truly global effort.

[truthisfreedom]

15. I feel bad for them. How disheartening.

Would have been nice to learn more about Venus.

[rAVES]

17. Don't find this funny in the slightest.

They must be heart broken :/

[Arrowhead2k1]

18. If it did atleast a little bit of an orbital insertion burn, there's a chance that it could

have been captured by Venus, but in a highly elliptical orbit. IF that is the case, and they still have communication, there may be a chance to correct the orbit in the future.

I'm purely speculating here though. By the sounds of it, the burn was either miniscule or non-existent, indicating that the motor failed, and that its trajectory will put it on a simple fly-by away from Venus.

[petronius]

20. One of the scientists quoted said they may get another chance in 6 years

Although that seems to be assuming the probe stayed on its original trajectory. The article doesn't say whether or not they know what effect the attempted burn had on its path...

[slackmaster]

21. They should never have sub-contracted the thruster controls to Toyota

:nuke: