Japan loses track of $273 mn black hole satellite

[Hans Mann]

Dozens of space scientists are desperately scouring the skies after losing track of a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar Japanese satellite that was sent to study black holes.

The ultra-high-tech "Hitomi" -- or eye -- satellite was supposed to be busy communicating from orbit by now, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said, but no one can say exactly where it is.

The device briefly made contact with ground crews but has since disappeared, with American researchers reporting that it could have broken into several pieces.

"We're taking the situation seriously," Saku Tsuneta, director of the agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, told a news conference on Sunday.

JAXA has around 40 technicians on the case, trying to locate the spacecraft and establish some kind of communication with it, an agency spokesman told AFP on Monday.

"We know approximately where it is," the spokesman added, but scientists were still trying to work out its precise location.

The satellite, developed in collaboration with NASA, the US space agency, and various other groups, was launched on February 17 and was designed to observe X-rays emanating from black holes and galaxy clusters.

Black holes have never been directly observed, but scientists believe they are huge collapsed stars whose enormous gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape.

The announcement last month that gravitational waves had been detected for the first time added to evidence of their existence after scientists found the waves had been caused by two enormous black holes colliding.

The lost satellite, which cost 31 billion yen ($273 million), including the cost of launching it, was supposed to orbit at an altitude of about 580 kilometres (360 miles).

The Japanese rocket carrying the satellite was launched by the country's mainstay H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

Japan has a massive space programme and the country has achieved successes in both scientific and commercial satellite launches. It has sent astronauts on space shuttle and International Space Station missions.

Japan loses track of $273 mn black hole satellite

[BaitongBoy]

Well, shit...It got sucked into a black hole, obviously...Somewhere over Nigeria, possibly...

[Bettyboo]

"Hitomi"

So, being an inquisitive fellow, I decided to do some research:

&, ideed, this is big news... https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=hi..._iBxUQ_AUIBigB

[BaitongBoy]

^ Heh...A nasty wee satellite, that one...

[wasabi]

The Japs are first to have placed a satellite in a black hole, it was probably knocked out by a flying rock.

[Mr Earl]

"Hitomi"

So, being an inquisitive fellow, I decided to do some research:

&, ideed, this is big news... https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=hi..._iBxUQ_AUIBigB

[Hans Mann]

Debris spotted floating around silent Hitomi X-ray satellite



WASHINGTON – The U.S. Joint Space Operations Center on Sunday said it has spotted five objects floating near Japan’s brand new Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite that lost communication with Earth the previous day.

In a Twitter post, the center, which tracks objects in orbit, said it identified five pieces of “break up” debris in the vicinity of the satellite.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said it is not known whether the Hitomi was struck by space debris and destroyed or whether minor pieces of it were knocked off.

The satellite is supposed to be orbiting about 580 km above Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is trying to confirm its condition.

Hitomi, jointly developed with NASA and other concerns, has four X-ray telescopes and two gamma-ray detectors that are supposed to shed light on the mysteries of the universe, including black holes, which are difficult to observe directly because they emit no light.

Hitomi was called Astro-H until it was put into orbit by an H-IIA rocket launched from Kagoshima Prefecture on Feb. 17.

On Sunday, JAXA said that if it doesn’t re-establish communications with Hitomi, it may not be unable to start astronomy research as scheduled this summer. JAXA was calibrating the equipment on Hitomi when it ran into problems.

“We are taking this situation very seriously,” Saku Tsuneta, director of JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said at a news conference.

Debris spotted floating around silent Hitomi X-ray satellite | The Japan Times

[BaitongBoy]

“We are taking this situation very seriously,” Saku Tsuneta

There's a good lad...

[VocalNeal]

The Russians will also know where it is!