Akatsuki

Akatsuki, space probe that investigated Venus in Japan’s first mission to the planet. An H-IIA rocket launched it on May 21, 2010, from the Tanegashima Space Centre on Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima prefecture. The H-IIA launch vehicle carried not only Akatsuki but also IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun), a probe that traveled past Venus and tested solar sail technology. IKAROS was the first interplanetary spacecraft to use a solar sail for propulsion. Akatsuki arrived at Venus in December 2010, but it failed to enter orbit around Venus and went into orbit around the Sun instead. It approached Venus again in December 2015, and it was then able to enter orbit around Venus.

Akatsuki circles Venus every 10.5 days in an orbit that brings it to within 1,000 to 10,000 km (620 to 6,200 miles) at closest approach. It carries five cameras—three that work in infrared, one in ultraviolet, and one in visible light. These five cameras are sensitive to different depths in Venus’s atmosphere from the cloud tops down to the surface. Scientists on Earth can also use slight variations in the frequency of Akatsuki’s radio signal to study the ionosphere of Venus.