JUNKED? Hitomi, a Japanese astronomy satellite, seems to be tumbling through space, and may have broken up. It was due to come online on 26 March, but failed to communicate with Earth.
A tweet by the US Joint Space Operations Center reported five pieces of debris around the satellite shortly afterwards.
All may not be lost. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency heard a brief burst of signal from the craft, and video taken from the ground suggests it is falling through space.
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鈥淚f we never hear from the satellite again, I would be devastated but not surprised鈥�
鈥淭hat indicates the sat was at that point alive, just unable to point its antenna at Earth,鈥� says Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He says it might be possible to talk to Hitomi and stop it tumbling. 鈥淏ut if you told me we were never going to hear from the sat again, I would be devastated but not surprised,鈥� he says.
Hitomi鈥檚 mission is to observe the universe in X-rays, investigating matters such as the birth of black holes and the origins of cosmic rays.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪atellite lost鈥�
