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Japan's Space Agency Loses Contact With New X-Ray Telescope Satellite "Hitomi"

Posted by timothy on from the vacuum-of-space-sucks dept.

As carried here by the San Francisco Chronicle, The Associated Press reports that Japanese space agency JAXA reports that it has lost contact with its new satellite "Hitomi," deployed last month and designed to explore deep space with X-ray telescopes. The AP story linked quotes Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who surmises that an "energetic event" has sent the craft into a tumble. The agency's release on the failure is terse, but leaves some room for hope: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) found that communication with the X-ray Astronomy Satellite âoeHitomiâ (ASTRO-H), launched on February 17, 2016 (JST), failed from the start of its operation originally scheduled at 16:40, Saturday March 26 (JST). Up to now, JAXA has not been able to figure out the state of health of the satellite. While the cause of communication failure is under investigation, JAXA received short signal from the satellite, and is working for recovery.

77 comments

  1. Japan's Loses Contact... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Japan's.

    1. Re:Japan's Loses Contact... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hitomi's gone missing? Don't worry, Deunan and Briareos will find her and save her. They usually do.

  2. Energetic event? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2

    I don't know about that satellite, but when I'm floating around in a vacuum and I have an energetic event, I feel pretty messed up.
     

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    1. Re:Energetic event? by cstdenis · · Score: 2

      the poor guy who has to clean your gore and brains off the wall(s), ceiling, and floor

      You can be that guy.

      http://store.steampowered.com/...

      --
      1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual.
  3. Lemme guess: MADE in JAPAN? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No space truckin' for you!

    1. Re:Lemme guess: MADE in JAPAN? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No space truckin' for you!

      Actually, the space debris collection detail is Japanese. One of the better hard SciFi series, canned after one series (of course).

    2. Re:Lemme guess: MADE in JAPAN? by Raenex · · Score: 1

      Probably because "Space Janitors" isn't the most interesting thing to premise your series on.

    3. Re:Lemme guess: MADE in JAPAN? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bump. planetes starts out slow but it's a very involved and interesting story. i highly recommend it for any fan of hard sci-fi. i particularly liked how even in space earthbound politics and conflicts have effects. i don't know where else the plot could go after the ending other than to maybe follow the voyage of the von braun tho. i suppose it would be interesting to know what happens when some of the younger characters grow up, but that seems like sequel territory.

      actually come to think about it, i see no mention of kessler syndrome anywhere. that was the first thing i thought of when i saw this story on the red site.

    4. Re:Lemme guess: MADE in JAPAN? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Whoosh on the whole thread.

      Old man on AC OP.

      Kids: Deep Purple (they were a heavy metal band, you know 'Smoke on the Water') made an live album, in japan, including a song that the old AC tried to make a joke on.

      Old man on me too. My ears rang for a week. Never seen so many people puking drunk at one event. It was pretty gross.

      On second thought: Except Rolla's 'Extravaganza' where puking is part of the festivities and contests.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  4. Re:Murika says NO to JAXA by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

    As long as they send the stereotypical giant stompy robots, I'm happy with the result.

    Who doesn't like giant stompy robots?

  5. Hit-o-mi baby one more time by turkeydance · · Score: 0

    oh baby baby oh baby baby

  6. Re:Murika says NO to JAXA by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

    As long as they send the stereotypical giant stompy robots, I'm happy with the result.

    Who doesn't like giant stompy robots?

    I would guess people in the vicinity of the giant stompy parts...
    But I'm just guessing...

    --
    You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  7. Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by robbak · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sourced from the competition of things you may have read:

    https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/714113400008286208 :

    Oh this is very very bad. From @spacetrackorg "Breakup Notification: [...] ASTRO H at approx 0820z, 26 Mar 16: 5 associated pieces .."

    Suspected causes are a MMOD hit, battery explosion or cryo system overpressure. Suggestoin that "It's too early to write the satellite's obituary", but any good news is very unlikely.

    --
    Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
    1. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      Oh this is very very bad. From @spacetrackorg "Breakup Notification: [...] ASTRO H at approx 0820z, 26 Mar 16: 5 associated pieces .."

      I'm guessing Hitomi got taken out by the Mobile Fortresses.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The odds of it being a MMOD, especially given how little time it's been in orbit, is very low. Conversely, the fact that broke up so early in the mission would reinforce a hardware failure of some kind (battery explosion or cryo system overpressure as you said).

      --
      Better known as 318230.
    3. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Similar thoughts here. An extremely high speed collision with a very small object, like being hit by a bullet, would more likely create a hole with many small debris on the exit side, instead of breaking the craft up into 5 parts that you can identify.

    4. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how long until micro gravity pulls the parts together again?

    5. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is what we get for trying to play tower defense with real satellites...

    6. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by Mathinker · · Score: 1

      Bummer about the mission.

      I wonder if McDowell actually got permission to post that twit --- the ToU of space-track.org seem pretty strict:

      The User agrees not to transfer any data or technical information received from this website, or other U.S. Government source, including the analysis of data, to any other entity without prior express approval. See, 10 USC 2274(c)(2).

    7. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I picture the end of the 2004 Appleseed movie...
          H-I-T-O- ...
      It's been left to us.

    8. Re:Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      cryo system overpressure.

      That does surprise me as a possibility, as fitting bursting discs and such-like venting systems is pretty common in ground systems. But I guess that may increase the number of possible points of failure, which would change the calculus of risk.

      Anyone would think it was rocket science!

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  8. Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the hell is an 'energetic event'?

    Why can't they explain in with ommon, every day English?

    1. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the hell is "explain in with ommon, every day English"?

    2. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Possible energetic events (just off the top of my head)

              Radio frequency energy

                    Cosmic radiation flux increase

                    Gamma ray burst

                    Solar wind "gust" (?)

            Kinetic energy

                Tension release (something snaps or otherwise dumps it's force load dynamically, tumbling the craft)

                Pressure release (pressurized gas vessel pops, or even just leaks a little; something goes BANG)

                Strike by object (meteoroid, space junk)

                Collision with other craft (unlikely; they'd know what's near the thing)

    3. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Failure of positioning unit (thruster or gyroscopic)

    4. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Ommon is the dialect they speak in his village.

    5. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I'm thinking likely some of the "strike by object" combined with "pressure release."

    6. Re: Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Simple electronic or operational failures on spacecraft are often recoverable. However, failures which change the spacecraft's orbit or orientation require 'energetic events'. These are usually very bad news. Energetic events often involve spontaneous self-disassembly.

    7. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could be worse, I still get a laugh when the announcer during a failed rocket launch refers to the failure as an "anomaly". There is a Youtube video from I believe a Delta II rocket explosion with this announcer who does her darnedest to not say anything negative as exploding debris rains down on the area around the launch pad.

    8. Re:Why not say it in common, everyday English? by siliconsmiley · · Score: 1

      It probably makes more sense in Japanese.

  9. Japan's what? by rossdee · · Score: 1

    who writes these headlines?

    1. Re:Japan's what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Japan's Losers Contract With New X-Ray Telescope Satellite "Hitomi"

      Or something like that.

    2. Re: Japan's what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they replace them with AI like Tay and Rinna it would be just slightly better

    3. Re:Japan's what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      who writes these headlines?

      Timmy!

      Save your breath, he is Whipslash's favorite editor. He seems to be the only one who can muster more then 40 posts per article. That is telling...

    4. Re:Japan's what? by arth1 · · Score: 1

      He's been with Slashdot for how long, and timothy still tries to paste Unicode?

      "Satellite âoeHitomiâ (ASTRO-H)"

      I'm not too sure how to pronounce that.
      ASTRO-H is easier - that has to be pronounced Astro-Ecchi, right?

    5. Re:Japan's what? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      /. editors are handles and are filled by HR. Duh.

      Like a backup musician in GWAR. He's only 'timothy' while he has the job.

      Alternatively think of it like a punk band that fires their drummer as soon as he starts to keep time. To keep up their image.

      'timothy' better keep pasting Unicode if he wants those sweet sweet /. dollars to keep rolling.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  10. Any connection to the npm flaws? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was the software on this satellite written in JavaScript and Node.js? Could the recent npm flaws (http://slashdot.org/story/309141) be involved?

    1. Re:Any connection to the npm flaws? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      It is from Japan, it is probably written in Ruby or C.

  11. Aliens by confused+one · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not saying it was aliens; but... Aliens.

    1. Re:Aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or that evil north korean satellite. It has been activated and will destroy every single other satellites.

    2. Re:Aliens by jittles · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying it was aliens; but... Aliens.

      Man I wish my mod points hadn't expired. You're 100% correct and I can prove it.

  12. ritual suicide for the shame of their failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope their families can live with the dishonor this failure has brought. They will eat whale meat and grieve.

  13. it's not lost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it just runs windows 10 and got stuck in an infinite update->fail->revert->retry loop.

    1. Re:it's not lost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      relax, give it time: it's just swapped out to disk.

      And no, I'm not kidding...

    2. Re:it's not lost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it just runs windows 10 and got stuck in an infinite update->fail->revert->retry loop.

      Then it's effectively lost. Might as well load the ransomware flavor-of-the-week* onto it and call it a day. Another satisfied Microsoft customer?

      * Which will get its own Slashdot headline. Ransomware has been a thing for a good while now. Removable media have been infected with malware at least since DOS viruses residing on boot sectors of 5.25" floppies. Every ransomware Slashdot headline I've ever seen has just been variations on old themes. Like Henry David Thoreau said about news in his day, it's little more than gossip, old women over their tea. There's nothing new to learn from it, other than "not running Windows spares you a lot of potential grief", but anyone with a clue already knew that. People with a clue have heard of playing chess, so they tend not to get suckered into vendor lock-in in the first place.

  14. OMG Not Hitomi! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For a second there I thought I'd have do dump my Hitomi Tanaka collection. She lives!

    1. Re:OMG Not Hitomi! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For a second there I thought I'd have do dump my Hitomi Tanaka collection. She lives!

      Yes without some insignificant obscure thing to attach all your self-worth to, how would you ever get through tomorrow? Hey, it works for sports fans. They are so very skilled at convincing themselves that the outcome of a contrived game played by multimillionaires (professional athletes) will somehow have a profound effect on their emotional well-being. They often utter phrases like "we won", the "we" implying their own participation, which didn't happen apart from eating fatty snacks in front of a TV.

      You may as well do the same with Hitomi Tanaka. It will have a great deal of unrecognized precedent. It's still utterly useless and a bit psychotic, though.

    2. Re:OMG Not Hitomi! by PPH · · Score: 1

      No great loss. The pictures it would have returned were bound to be heavily pixelated anyway.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Re:Murika says NO to JAXA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    History shows
    Again and again
    How Nature points out
    The folly of Man.
    GODZILLA!

  16. MMOD: Micrometeoroid / Orbital Debris by Mal-2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris

    For a change, this is pretty much exactly what I had guessed upon seeing an unfamiliar acronym.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  17. Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    âoeHitomiâ

    barf

    1. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by ledow · · Score: 1

      One of the reasons I use SoylentNews - they actually bothered to use a fixed version of Slash that doesn't have these problems.

      Pisses me off that I can't put in a simple currency sign: £

    2. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by KGIII · · Score: 1

      That might be a failing on your part. €, £, $, and as this is Japan, ¥. Or did you want ©, ñ, or ü?

      < © — €

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    3. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by ledow · · Score: 1

      Nope. I type the £ symbol on my keyboard, into a standard browser, that works on EVERY OTHER WEBSITE IN THE WORLD, even "just works" in Notepad, etc. And I get that shit.

    4. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's try writing some greek then, and check whether or not it works:

    5. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in general html entities are fine, which is probably how kgiii posted his. i've been able to post typographical quotes here as long as i use the html entity (&ldquo; “ and &rdquo; ”). if i generate something with my compose key, however, it turns into utfail.

      i think whipslash posted something a few weeks ago about utf-8 coming here. but yeah, the red site has been awesome about stuff that dice simply didn't care about. at least our new overlords seem to be interested in more than just squeezing as much revenue as they can out of the site.

    6. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Actually, only some of them are posted as HTML entities. Hit my post's reply button and click on the quote parent and all will become clear. I'll reply to the other guy as well.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    7. Re:Slashdot: Fix unicode bugs please! by KGIII · · Score: 1

      What button is that? Try using the AltGr keys. In Windows, use the US International (though I think others work) and they insert it just fine. (I've done it, many times.)

      The other poster said I used the HTML entities. That is only partially true. lt gt mdash ndash are entities, as is euro. The others are inserted with the keyboard.

      €’£¼½¾÷¦”“ÖÓÍÚÜËÉÉÅÄäåéëüúíóöøïhhgfðßßááðfghïøÇñb®æÆ©®BÑÇ

      Those are all inserted with the keyboard using the International Keyboard Layout with AltGr and Dead Keys. (Linux.) In Windows it's the US International that I used. I've no idea what OS X uses but I am guessing they've got AltGr available somewhere.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  18. Re:Murika says NO to JAXA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dude, this happened in space! Clearly, this is the work of Gamera.

  19. Re:Never Forget by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    Who doesn't like giant stompy robots?

    I would guess people in the vicinity of the giant stompy parts...

    Yeah, just look at how people reacted when the Martian stompy bots arrived. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  20. Re: Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're not thinking about off axis torque. Any high energy collision will likely start the craft tumbling violently. This will result in large pieces breaking off of the craft such as the solar arrays, magnetometer boom, etc.

  21. You would never lose track of the real Hitomi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NSFW-ish
    https://media.zenfs.com/zh-Hant-TW/homerun/nownews.com/791edb6c933732e8dff0d4f0b8209311

  22. Slashdot needs to fix it's commenting system NOW by The+Other+White+Meat · · Score: 1

    As you can see from these posts, Slashdot's allowance of anonymous posts is to its detriment. End Anonymous Cowards, and put in a real vote up/down system that allows everyone to vote on every post.

    --

    --- Generation X: The first generation to have SIG lines inferior to their parents... ---
  23. Re:Murika says NO to JAXA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even Godzilla's SONG kicks Gamera's wimpy butt.

  24. Re:Murika says NO to JAXA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Being a disruption, menace, thug, or otherwise a childish self-centered asshole is anathema to their culture.

    So I guess you've never heard of the Yakuza or the assortment of street gangs/thugs in Japan's cities.

    Besides "looking thuggish" is juts your straight up cultural bias. To someone from Japan having blond hair makes you look "thuggish" as it's a color people from Japan would have to create artificially, so natural blonds are often stereotyped the same way Americans would stereotype someone with a mohawk and tons of piercings, or in your case, dark skin.

    TlDR; gangs exist everywhere. It's poverty that the real driving force not ethnicity. That the two are correlated in the US is an artifact of slavery that's proven hard to get rid of because people like you mistake it for causation.

  25. Whatever... by pellik · · Score: 2

    Japanese galaxy porn is the worst anyway, since they will censor the best parts.