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

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.

Comments

Worse than that: this spacecraft has broken up.

[robbak]

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.

MMOD: Micrometeoroid / Orbital Debris

[Mal-2]

Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris

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