Launch of Akatsuki

Akatsuki, also called the Venus Climate Orbiter or Planet-C, was a Japanese probe designed to study the atmosphere and weather of Venus, launched by JAXA on an H-IIA rocket together with the solar sail demonstrator IKAROS. Its first attempt to enter orbit around Venus in December 2010 failed when its main engine was damaged, and the spacecraft remained in orbit around the Sun for five years. In December 2015 the team succeeded in placing it in orbit using small attitude thrusters, an unusual rescue. Akatsuki then observed the planet's fast winds, a phenomenon called super-rotation, and found a huge standing wave in the clouds. The spacecraft was later declared defunct.

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