Akatsuki
Akatsuki was JAXA's Venus atmospheric mission, using infrared and ultraviolet observations to investigate cloud motions, atmospheric structure, lightning, and airglow. After a failed 2010 orbit-insertion attempt, the spacecraft spent five years orbiting the Sun before entering Venus orbit on December 7, 2015 with a roughly twenty-minute firing of its attitude-control engines. The recovered mission observed Venus for more than eight years and investigated atmospheric waves and super-rotation. Communications were lost in April 2024, and JAXA ended operations on September 18, 2025.
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Identity
- Aliases
- PLANET-CVenus Climate Orbiter
- Name
- Akatsuki
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Akatsuki was JAXA's Venus atmospheric mission, using infrared and ultraviolet observations to investigate cloud motions, atmospheric structure, lightning, and airglow. After a failed 2010 orbit-insertion attempt, the spacecraft spent five years orbiting the Sun before entering Venus orbit on December 7, 2015 with a roughly twenty-minute firing of its attitude-control engines. The recovered mission observed Venus for more than eight years and investigated atmospheric waves and super-rotation. Communications were lost in April 2024, and JAXA ended operations on September 18, 2025.
- Destination
- Elliptical Venus orbit at approximately 1,000–10,000 km periapsis and 370,000 km apoapsis (10.8-day period) for studying Venusian atmospheric circulation, meteorology, cloud structure, lightning, and possible volcanic activity after successful orbit insertion in December 2015 following a failed 2010 attempt
- End Date
- 2025-09-18
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Akatsuki became Japan's first planetary orbiter beyond Earth and returned more than eight years of Venus atmospheric observations, including major results on planetary-scale waves and the maintenance of super-rotation. Communications were lost in late April 2024, and JAXA formally ended operations on September 18, 2025 after unsuccessful recovery work.
- Programs
- -
- Start Date
- 2010-05-21
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sas/planet_c/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 30, 2026 at 03:49:34 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 29, 2026 at 15:15:10 UTC
- Image
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Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles