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Suzaku

Suzaku, launched as ASTRO-EII, was Japan's fifth X-ray astronomy satellite, developed through Japanese-U.S. collaboration. It investigated hot plasma, black-hole accretion, galaxy clusters, and stellar explosions using broad-band X-ray observations. Loss of liquid helium disabled its high-resolution X-ray Spectrometer in August 2005, shortly after launch. The surviving X-ray Imaging Spectrometers and Hard X-ray Detector supported a revised observing program that continued the mission's exploration of the energetic universe.

Suzaku
NASA; image at ISAS/JAXA; Wikimedia Commons · Wikimedia Commons identifies the image as a NASA-created work in the public domain in the United States; reuse is permitted without copyright restriction in the U.S., subject to applicable non-copyright restrictions and no implied endorsement. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
ASTRO-EII missionASTRO-E2 missionSuzaku mission
Name
Suzaku
Status
completed

Details

Astronauts
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Description
Suzaku, launched as ASTRO-EII, was Japan's fifth X-ray astronomy satellite, developed through Japanese-U.S. collaboration. It investigated hot plasma, black-hole accretion, galaxy clusters, and stellar explosions using broad-band X-ray observations. Loss of liquid helium disabled its high-resolution X-ray Spectrometer in August 2005, shortly after launch. The surviving X-ray Imaging Spectrometers and Hard X-ray Detector supported a revised observing program that continued the mission's exploration of the energetic universe.
Destination
550 km circular low Earth orbit at 31° inclination for broad-band X-ray observations of black holes, supernova remnants, galaxy clusters, and other energetic cosmic sources; Japan-led JAXA–U.S. collaboration originally launched as Astro-E2
End Date
2015-09-02
Launch Site
Outcome
Suzaku completed about ten years of science observations despite the early loss of its cryogenic X-ray Spectrometer. Its surviving instruments returned sensitive broad-band measurements of black holes, galaxy clusters, supernova remnants, and other high-energy sources. Mission operations ended on September 2, 2015.
Programs
Start Date
2005-07-10
Vehicle Families

Links

Official Url
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/suzaku/

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
August 1, 2026 at 10:27:36 UTC
Updated Time
October 29, 2026 at 13:17:01 UTC
Image
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Space Stations
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