Akatsuki and New Horizons Spacecrafts Access Venus and Kuiper Belt

Summary: As of Monday, Dec. 7, Akatsuki and News Horizons spacecrafts respectively access Venus and the Kuiper Belt, according to JAXA and NASA announcements.

solar system missions update December 2015 - Akatsuki (upper right) and New Horizons (center right): Olaf Frohn, CC BY SA 3.0, via Armchair Astronautics

Akatsuki and New Horizons spacecrafts respectively are accessing Earth’s near and remote neighbors since Dec. 7, 2015, according to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announcements.

A 20-minute blast from four thrusters brought Akatsuki (“dawn”) from an unintended orbit around the sun to original launch agendas of May 20, 2015, regarding Venus. JAXA considers the first orbital insertion maneuver failure Dec. 6, 2010, as due to the probe’s orbital maneuvering engines igniting for three, not 12, minutes. The second insertion describes a 310,685.59-mile (500,000-kilometer) above-surface orbit instead of the originally intended elevation of 186.41 to 49,709.65 miles (300 to 80,000 kilometers) over Venus.

JAXA expects 14- to 15-day completed revolutions.

The 75-pound (34-kilogram) scientific payload of five imaging cameras and one radio science instrument facilitates detection of heat radiation and of infrared, ultraviolet and visible wavelengths.

The payload gives the Akatsuki spacecraft instruments for detecting lightning, identifying atmospheric gases and studying heat radiation emissions from active volcanoes, high-altitude clouds and surface rocks. Investigation of atmospheric gases has priority since the atmosphere of the Blue Marble’s sister planet is dominated by un-Earthlike concentrations of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Venus is the solar system’s hottest planet since greenhouse-like atmospheres over 96 percent thick with carbon dioxide heat surfaces to 863 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius).

JAXA and NASA scientists and team members keep the Akatsuki and New Horizons spacecrafts busy on the oppositely far and near sides of the solar system.

New Horizons let Earth-bound team members know of the spacecraft's flybys past Pluto between July 7, and July 14, 2015, and progress through the Kuiper Belt. Along with comets and frozen rocks, the three dwarf planets Haumea, Makemake and Pluto make up the Kuiper Belt, the third zone of the solar system. Astronomers note that the solar system divides into a first zone of four inner, rocky planets and a second zone of four outer, icy gas giants.

New Horizons offers team members the closest-up images of a Kuiper Belt object.

The weeks of Nov. 29, 2015, and of Dec. 6, 2015, provide New Horizons scientists with images of Pluto and of the other Kuiper Belt objects.

Four photos 170 million miles (280 million kilometers) from New Horizons qualify as the closest pictures of a Kuiper Belt object 90 miles (150 kilometers) across. New Horizons team members reveal a distance of 3.3 billion miles (5.3 billion kilometers) from the sun during 1994 JR1’s photo opp Nov. 2, 2015. They state that the third close flyby of a Kuiper Belt object currently is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2019, if the New Horizons mission is extended.

Mission extensions take New Horizons 1,000,000,000 miles (1,609,344,000 kilometers) farther, to 2014 MU69.

artist's concept of New Horizons' flyby past Pluto: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute, Public Domain, via NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory PhotoJournal

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

solar system missions update December 2015: Olaf Frohn, CC BY SA 3.0, via Armchair Astronautics @ http://armchairastronautics.blogspot.com/2015/11/solar-system-missions-update-122015.html

New Horizons at Pluto: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute, Public Domain, via NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory PhotoJournal @ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19703

For further information:

Fingas, Jon. 6 December 2015. "This is your closest look yet at a Kuiper Belt object." Engadget.
Available @ http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/06/kuiper-belt-object-close-up/

GeoBeats News. 5 December 2015. "Billions Of Miles Away From Earth, New Horizons Spots A Wandering Object." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCj5PRBUeTk

NASA @NASA. 6 December 2015. "@NASANewHorizons' camera captures a wandering Kuiper Belt object." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/673584699793645568

NASA @NASA. 7 December 2015. "Japan's Akatsuki orbiter is making a 2nd attempt to enter Venus' orbit today. Learn more." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/673925813331468288

Talbert, Tricia, ed. 3 December 2015. "A Distant Close-up: New Horizons' Camera Captures a Wandering Kuiper Belt Object." NASA > Feature > New Horizons.
Available @ http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/06/kuiper-belt-object-close-up/