Japan's lost satellite is tumbling through space, but still checking in
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Lucy Schouten Staff
Japan's lost space equipment 鈥� the X-ray satellite Hitomi 鈥� may have tried to phone home, suggesting that the $265-million piece of space equipment might still have a chance to complete its mission.聽
Losing Hitomi would be a devastating blow for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), as the agency has already lost two other satellites, which broke before completing their missions. Fortunately for JAXA, promising video footage taken from Earth and sporadic bursts of static suggest that the satellite may still be functional, though perhaps聽tumbling through space.
"If the satellite were not tumbling, it would appear to be the same brightness," Paul Maley, a former NASA flight controller and amateur astronomer who has observed聽Hitomi,. "The fact that it is rotating with extreme variations in brightness indicates that it is not controlled and that some event caused it to begin its rotation."
JAXA received a burst of communication earlier this week, suggesting the satellite is , Jeff Faust reported for SpaceNews. JAXA remains optimistic, and the president has set up a headquarters to investigate and recover Hitomi.聽
"There鈥檚 hope for recovery unless the spacecraft is severely damaged," he said. "We haven鈥檛 given up recovery of the spacecraft."
Hitomi lost contact with Earth on Saturday, March 26, but JAXA had no clues as to what happened or , according to a news release. The president set up emergency headquarters for JAXA to investigate and recover the lost satellite.聽
The US聽Space Command鈥檚 Joint Space Operations Center聽found evidence that Hitomi has broken into at least five pieces, but the satellite's owners hope that means the outer casing has broken off without damaging its frame or essential functions. Their case is bolstered by continuing communication.
Hitomi's mission is to study the universe's most high-energy objects, including black holes, galaxy clusters, and exploding stars, a mission JAXA still hopes it can complete.聽
"The recovery will require months, not days," Masaki Fujimoto, a director of international strategy and coordination at JAXA聽told Space News. "That鈥檚 the kind of timescale we have in mind."
