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Old December 10th 10, 12:40 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Sylvia Else[_2_]
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Posts: 458
Default Japanese can't get their maths right, Venus probe lost

On 10/12/2010 9:07 PM, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1012/08akatsuki/

"We have found that the orbiter was not injected into the planned orbit
as a result of orbit estimation,"

In other words: we didn't get the maths right and fired the thrusters
at the wrong time...

This is simply embarrasing! Why didn't they ask NASA or ESA to verify
their calculations? Now they'll have to wait six more years for another
attempt and it's unlikely the craft will still be functioning then.


Nothing there to suggest faulty maths. The orbit estimation they're
referring to relates to the trajectory it is now following. More likely
some technical malfunction during the burn.

Sylvia.