B.B.C. Article

Dozens of Japanese scientists and engineers are scrambling to save a satellite - and more than a quarter of a billion dollars of investment - tumbling out of control in space.
Hitomi, meaning the pupil of the eye, was launched last month.
It was designed to study energetic space objects such as supermassive black holes, neutron stars, and galaxy clusters, by observing energy wavelengths from X-rays to gamma-rays.
But time is now running out to save the mission.


The satellite was called Astro-H at launch, but renamed Hitomi in space

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tuco wrote:
Soon we will need space garbage collectors.

B.B.C. Article

Hitomi: Japan to abandon costly satellite sent to study black holes
Japan's space agency had said it will abandon efforts to restore or retrieve the ASTRO-H satellite.


The agency said it was highly likely that two solar arrays had broken off their bases

Also called Hitomi, the satellite was launched in 17 February to observe X-rays coming from black holes.
Contact was lost with $273m satellite on 26 March sparking a scramble by Japanese scientists to find out what had happened.
The next time a similar satellite will be launched is in 2028 by the European Space Agency.
Hitomi was a joint effort between Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA and other groups.

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