Tag: X-rays
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JAXA, NASA approve replacement for failed Hitomi astronomy satellite
Artist’s concept of the failed Hitomi satellite. Credit: JAXA The Japanese space agency is moving ahead with a smaller-scale X-ray astronomy satellite to replace the failed Hitomi observatory, which spun out of control about a month-and-a-half after its launch last year. The X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission, or XARM, could launch as soon as March 2021,…
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Japan’s Hitomi observatory made cosmic discovery before failing
The Perseus galaxy cluster is filled with hot X-ray-emitting gas, as seen in this image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Astronomers using the Soft X-ray Spectrometer aboard the Hitomi satellite have, for the first time, mapped the motion of this gas and determined its velocity structure across a large part of the cluster. The square…
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Japan gives up on rescuing black hole observatory
Artist’s concept of Japan’s Hitomi satellite. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Japan’s space agency says it has ceased efforts to rescue a failed X-ray astronomy satellite after it spun out of control and broke apart in orbit, declaring the nearly $400 million mission lost two months after its launch. Controllers on the ground lost contact with the…
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U.S. military rules out collision as cause of Hitomi satellite’s woes
The Hitomi satellite is seen Nov. 27 at a press day held before its launch. Credit: JAXA As Japanese ground controllers struggle to restore communications with a tumbling space telescope in orbit, the U.S. military’s space surveillance experts have eliminated one cause for the satellite’s troubles. A military spokesperson told Spaceflight Now in an email…
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Japan’s newest space telescope goes silent
Updated on March 28. Artist’s concept of the Hitomi observatory. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Japan has lost contact with the newly-launched Hitomi space telescope, and ground observations indicate the satellite has shed debris and may be tumbling in orbit more than 350 miles above Earth. Ground controllers lost contact with the Hitomi black hole observatory at the…
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Launch of Japanese X-ray observatory postponed
Ground crews prepare the Astro-H spacecraft for launch at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Credit: JAXA The Japanese space agency said Thursday the launch of an X-ray astrophysics observatory is postponed from Friday due to a poor weather forecast at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The Astro-H mission is awaiting launch aboard…