PLANET-C — launch
Date in UTC
Akatsuki, also known as Planet-C and the Venus Climate Orbiter, is Japan’s mission to investigate the atmosphere and weather of Venus. It launched on May 20, 2010 UTC, corresponding to May 21 in Japan. A propulsion failure prevented its first planned Venus orbit insertion in December 2010. Engineers later used its smaller thrusters to achieve orbit in December 2015, enabling observations of clouds, atmospheric circulation and the planet’s super-rotating atmosphere.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_(spacecraft). Related NASA reference: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/akatsuki/.
- Category
- Launches and Flight Tests
- Type
- Orbital launch
- Subjects
- Space transportation
- Mission
- PLANET-C
- Organization
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Launch Services)
- Vehicle
- H-IIA 202
- Location
- Tanegashima Space Center, Tanegashima, Nippon
- Country
- JP
- Outcome
- Successful
Sources and attribution
- Jonathan McDowell — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (opens in a new tab) — Data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat), CC BY 4.0. Adapted into anniversary records. (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Akatsuki/Planet-C (opens in a new tab) — Factual synthesis based on the cited Wikipedia and NASA pages; original editorial wording. (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Timeline of Space Exploration Missions 1957 to 2031 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA — Akatsuki/Planet-C (opens in a new tab)
- NASA NSSDCA — Akatsuki/Planet-C (opens in a new tab)