Japan’s black hole satellite reappears out of nowhere
Apr 2, 2016, 2:36 PM | Updated: Apr 3, 2016, 7:41 pm
(Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
Last month, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a $273 million black hole satellite into space to further investigate the mysteries outside our atmosphere. However, earlier this week, the satellite disappeared without a trace, and now has suddenly reappeared.
Video of the Hitomi was shot by astronomer Paul Maley in Arizona, and it shows the satellite tumbling through space. Japan has found it difficult to relay messages off the satellite due to the consistent spinning through space. The satellite was spinning one full rotation every 23.5 seconds.
However, the Department of Defense’s Joint Space Operations Center have said that none of the evidence so far suggests a collision was at fault. The department also has gone on to say whatever happened may have happened on the actual satellite.
To get the satellite spinning so fast, I think it must have been shooting out gas of some kind – either one of its actual rocket thrusters got stuck on, or possibly the super-cold liquid helium boiled off and acted as if it was a rocket thruster. The cooling system’s been working fine for a few weeks (and apparently some of the data that’s been returned is scientifically exciting) so maybe the stuck thruster is the most likely guess. But it’s just a guess.
Recovering Hitomi and reviewing the data would be groundbreaking in terms of forwarding x-ray spectroscopy, a technique used by astronomers to study cosmic x-ray sources.
It remains uncertain if JAXA will be able to recover Hitomi, but they are not prepared to call it a lost cause just yet.
