Japanese space agency JAXA is trying to determine whether a space probe that reached Venus has successfully entered the planet's orbit.
JAXA says the Japanese probe, named Akatsuki or Dawn , reversed its engine Tuesday to slow down as it approached Venus, but later lost contact with ground control as it passed behind the planet. The agency says communication was restored later through only one of the probe's three antennas.
The lack of contact with the other antennas meant Japanese experts had only a limited amount of data with which to determine the probe's status. JAXA said it is working on maneuvering the probe into orbit for its planned two-year mission to study Venus' hostile climate.
Akatsuki would be the first probe that Japan has placed into orbit around another planet. JAXA launched the $300 million probe in May, hoping it will help explain why Venus has a very different environment from Earth. The two planets are similar in size and age, although Earth is 40 million kilometers farther from the sun than Venus.
Akatsuki is equipped with instruments to peer through Venus' thick cloud cover to monitor volcanic activity on the surface and search for possible lightning in its atmosphere.
Japan recently completed another space mission in which a probe successfully captured dust from an asteroid and brought it back to Earth. VOANews
