A Japanese spacecraft that once carried over 13,000 Hatsune Miku fan messages and drawings into space has officially ended its mission after 15 years.
Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on September 18 that it has terminated operations of the Venus Climate Orbiter, also known as Akatsuki.
The probe had been out of contact since April 2024 after an incident in its attitude control mode caused communication loss. Recovery efforts were attempted, but with the spacecraft already far beyond its expected lifespan, JAXA has now closed the mission.
JAXA shared the news in a statement on X, thanking supporters for their role throughout the 15-year journey.
Launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on May 21, 2010, aboard the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 17, Akatsuki was Japan’s first planetary orbiter beyond Earth. Before launch, JAXA ran a PR campaign inviting the public to send handwritten notes and illustrations to Venus.
Vocaloid fans organized an effort to “send Miku to space,” contributing thousands of messages and drawings of Hatsune Miku that were printed onto aluminum plates attached to the probe.
Akatsuki suffered an engine failure shortly after launch, forcing it to drift through space for five years before engineers successfully redirected it using a smaller backup thruster. The spacecraft finally entered Venus’s orbit in December 2015, where it spent more than eight years studying the planet’s atmosphere.
During its mission, Akatsuki made major contributions to planetary science, including discovering the largest stationary gravity waves in the Solar System, advancing understanding of Venus’s super-rotation, and applying Earth-style data assimilation techniques to another planet for the first time.
In other Hatsune Miku news, she’s teamed up with Pokemon to deliver their first-ever crossover concert.
Source link
