The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Venus Climate Orbiter, AKATSUKI, in 2010, and the spacecraft entered Venus orbit in 2015. AKATSUKI has now been in operation for 14 years, and has achieved high scientific results.

AKATSUKI completed regular operations after the project completion review in 2018, and has since been conducting observations as part of the late-stage operations. However, during operations at the end of April 2024, a control mode in which the attitude maintenance accuracy was not high continued for a prolonged period, leading to communication being unable to be established.

Various measures have been taken to restore communication, but this has not been successful so far. The team are continuing to work on restoration operations to re-establish communication.

We are considering future measures, taking into consideration that AKATSUKI is now in the late-stage operation phase, having exceeded the design lifespan of 4.5 years after launch. We will share information as soon as JAXA's policy has been decided.