Japan has recognized the satellite Hitomi lost forever

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA officially announced the final failure of the Hitomi X-ray telescope, recently launched into orbit. On April 28, attempts to bring him back into service were discontinued.

The director of the JAXA satellite launch division, Saku Tsuneta, announced: “We have concluded that the satellite is in a state that does not imply the restoration of its functions. I deeply apologize for stopping the operation. ” He also noted that he regrets the unfulfilled dream of astronomers to study deep space and black holes, which the said satellite was supposed to deal with.



The official version of satellite failure is to separate the solar panels, which were supposed to provide expensive equipment with energy, from the apparatus.

The director said that the cost of the project, including the satellite itself and its launch, was about 31 billion yen ($ 273 million).

The ASTRO-H space x-ray telescope, renamed the Hitomi Observatory (Eye), was launched into space on February 17, 2016. The launch was carried out successfully, the device went into a given orbit, and the scientists began to prepare observations. The observatory carried on board several telescopes to observe the sky in various X-ray ranges.

On February 27, the system practically reached the design mode of operation, but a month later the Japanese reported thatSatellite connection lost . The next day, the US space debris military surveillance systems determined that five fragments were moving in orbit at the Hitomi site. Probably, the satellite fell apart due to constructive flaws or due to a collision with space debris.