For nearly 10 years, there’s been only one spacecraft able to keep its cool above the hellish landscape of Venus. The Japanese Akatsuki probe was sent to Earth’s neighboring planet to observe its atmospheric dynamics, but the lone Venusian mission has suddenly gone quiet.
Japan’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) has lost contact with its Venus spacecraft following a maneuver in late April, the research organization announced on X. The spacecraft was in “an extended period of low attitude stability control mode” before it went silent, ISAS wrote.
ISAS is currently trying to reestablish contact with its Venus probe. “We will inform you about future plans once they are fixed,” the institute wrote on X.
The Venus Climate Orbiter mission (PLANET-C), or Akatsuki, launched in 2010 to study weather patterns on Venus, observe whether or not there is lightning in its thick clouds, and search for signs of active volcanism. Despite its similarities to Earth, Venus is the evil twin of our home planet with scorching temperatures, crushing atmospheric pressure, and clouds of corrosive acid.
Under these conditions, it’s hard to send a spacecraft to Venus’ surface. The last NASA spacecraft sent to observe Venus wrapped up operations on October 12, 1994 by plunging into the Venusian atmosphere. Europe’s Venus Express entered the planet’s orbit in 2006, but lost contact with mission control in 2014 after eight years of observing the Venusian atmosphere.
Related article: Fresh Lava Flows on Venus Hint at Active Volcanoes
Then there was Akatsuki, which remained as the only active mission around Venus over the past nine years. It wasn’t always smooth sailing though. The Japanese probe failed its first orbital insertion attempt in 2010 and had to wait several years to swing back around. Thankfully, the probe pulled off its second attempt and has been providing valuable data about Venus’ atmospheric dynamics ever since.
It may be time to say goodbye to Akatsuki, but Venus won’t be lonely for long as NASA is finally sending two new missions there. DAVINCI, scheduled for launch in 2029, is a descent probe that will study Venus from its clouds down to its surface. VERITAS, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2031, will study Venus’ surface and core to understand how a rocky planet about the same size as Earth evolved along a very different path.
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