JAPAN LAUNCHES AKATSUKI PROBE TO VENUS
Baku, May 21 (AZERTAC). Japan has sent a sophisticated probe to Venus to study its atmosphere in unprecedented detail.
The Akatsuki orbiter was put on a path to the inner-world by an H-IIA rocket launched from the Tanegashima spaceport in the south of the country.
The vehicle left its pad at precisely 2158 GMT (0658 local time Friday).
Akatsuki will arrive at Venus in December. Key goals include finding definitive evidence for lightning and for active volcanoes.
It was the H-IIA`s second attempt at a launch. A previous effort earlier in the week was aborted because of a thick covering of cloud at the Tanegashima facility.
Thursday`s get-away, by contrast, was made into a bright sky. The 53m-high rocket climbed south-east over the Pacific Ocean, its lift-off timed to the second to make sure Atkatsuki picked up the correct trajectory to make it out to Venus.
The H-IIA vehicle had a busy flight. It also deployed five piggy-back experiments, including a small satellite to practice the technique of sailing on sunlight.
Once Akatsuki gets to Venus, it will not be alone. The probe will conduct joint observations with a European Space Agency craft - Venus Express - that arrived at the planet in 2006.
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