Japanese Orbiter Rescue From Sun’s Orbit Reveals First-Ever Set Of Observations

Japan's Venus probe, named Akatsuki, comes back to life after an unplanned detour that took five years. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) presented on April 4 to 8 the first scientific results the spacecraft produced. There were images which include a detailed photo of streaked, acidic clouds as well as a mysterious "bow" moving in Venus's atmosphere.

Akatsuki project manager Masato Nakamura announced that Akatsuki might be able to avoid Venus's shadow that drains solar power, enabling the spacecraft to orbit the planet for five rather than two years which it was originally assigned.

The Akatsuki was launched on and headed for Venus in 2010. Upon its entry to the planet's orbit a year later, its mission was supposed to include looking for active volcanos and other geographical features. However, when it entered orbit, the probe's main engine blew and the craft entered orbit around the Sun instead. JAXA was able to rescue the spacecraft in December when it passed near Venus.

The "bow", images of which were taken with a long-wave infrared (LIR) camera, provided the scientists some curiosity, according to a feature by the Daily Mail. The cloud formation seemed to rotate with the planet's surface than with the atmosphere which moves a lot quicker. The motion of this mysterious formation is speculated to be related to features on the ground, though scientists have no idea what may have caused it.

Planetary scientists not related to JAXA will have to wait a year to access the data, according to a feature by the Nature, but they are nonetheless excited for the probe's success. NASA has shortlisted five proposal to possibly launch in the early 2020s; two of those are Venus based projects. It is expected that the agency will have decided by the end of December and from Akatsuki's success. Venus missions could get a boost, especially if the spacecraft finds interesting information that requires follow-up.