Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s $300 million Planet-C Venus Climate Orbiter is being pulled toward the sun after falling to successfully enter the planet’s orbit. The probe, nicknamed “Akatsuki” (“Dawn”), was set to monitor climate and volcanic activity on the second planet from the Sun. The probe was set to monitor the planet for two years.
The orbiter approached Venus earlier this week, but ultimately failed to enter its gravitational field, despite an engine reversal implemented by JAXA. Today, the organization told the press that the mission has officially been declared a failure.
“We started the maneuver to put the Venus probe Akatsuki into orbit around Venus at 8:49 am (Tokyo time) on December 7,” JAXA said in a statement, “but have confirmed that we could not put it into the orbit.”
JAXA is still in control of Akatsuki, but it will likely have to wait another six years to do so. Science guy Billy Nye, who is currently an executive director at the U.S.’s Plentary Society told the press solemnly that the organization “regrets that the innovative Akatsuki spacecraft seems to have missed its opportunity to lock into an orbit of Venus. Although Akatsuki has already accomplished some remarkable things on its voyage, this setback reminds us how difficult space exploration can be.”
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