Japanese Probe That Famously Sent Fictional Pop Star to Venus Is Officially Dead
Venus is officially a lonely planet. After losing contact with the Akatsuki spacecraft last year, Japan’s space agency (JAXA) has officially ended operations of the lone mission left in our neighboring planet’s orbit. Earlier this week, JAXA determined that the recovery of its Venus probe was unlikely, prompting it to formally end the 15-year-old mission. Akatsuki, which translates to “dawn” in Japanese, launched on May 21, 2010, to study weather patterns on Venus and confirm the presence of li