Our only mission at Venus may have just gone dark

Enlarge / Processed image of Venus captured by the Akatsuki spacecraft.

(credit: JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Kevin M. Gill)

JAXA, the Japanese space agency, confirmed Wednesday that it has lost communication with its Akatsuki spacecraft in orbit around Venus.

In its update, the space agency said it failed to establish communications in late April after the spacecraft had difficulty maintaining its attitude. This likely means there is some sort of thruster issue on the spacecraft that is preventing it from being able to orient itself back toward Earth.

“Since then, we have implemented various measures to restore service, but communication has not yet been restored,” the agency stated. “We are currently working on restoring communication.” JAXA added that it will announce further actions, if any, as soon as they’ve been decided upon.