JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft successfully entered Venus’ orbit on Monday, December 7, where it now will prepare to study the planet’s atmosphere.
This image of Venus was taken by the UVI instrument on JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter from a distance of about 44,700 miles (72,000 km) on December 7, 2015. Image credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Akatsuki (means ‘Dawn’), also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter, is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission designed to study the dynamics of Venus’ atmosphere.
“Akatsuki is now flying on the elliptical orbit at the apoapsis altitude of about 400 km and periapsis altitude of about 440,000 km from Venus,” said JAXA representatives, after a radio signal confirmed that the orbiter had been pulled into Venus’ orbit.
“The orbit period is 13 days and 14 hours. We also found that the orbiter is flying in the same direction as that of Venus’s rotation,” they said.
Akatsuki carries a suite of six instruments. The 1-Micron Camera (IR1) will image the deepest levels of the atmosphere at 0.90, 0.97, and 1.01 micron wavelengths. The 2-Micron Camera (IR2) will image the middle and lower atmosphere at 1.73, 2.26, and 2.32 microns.
The atmosphere at the height of the cloud tops will be mapped by the Longwave Infrared Camera (LIR) at 10 microns.
The Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) will also look at the cloud tops, at 263 and 365 nm. And airglows in the lower thermosphere and lightning in the clouds will be imaged by the Lightning and Airglow Camera (LAC). High precision tracking will be facilitated by the Ultrastable Oscillator (USO).
This image was taken by Akatsuki’s IR1 instrument from a distance of about 42,250 miles (68,000 km) on December 7, 2015. Image credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
“We have already received images from three instruments – namely UVI, LIR, and the 1-Micron Camera – whose function has already been confirmed,” JAXA representatives said.
“We will check the function of the three other scientific mission instruments and perform initial observation for about three months while gradually adjusting the orbit for shifting its elliptical orbit to the period of about nine days.”
The science phase of the mission will begin in April 2016.
