23 Apr 2015
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stopped sending and receiving radio waves to and from the Aurora Observation Satellite "AKEBONO" (EXOS-D) at 15:59 p.m. on April 23, 2015 to terminate its operation.
The AKEBONO was Japan's third aurora observation satellite launched by the M-3SII Launch Vehicle on February 22, 1989, from the Uchinoura Space Center, which belonged to the then Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
The AKEBONO continued its observation activities for 26 years and two months, amazingly longer than its target life of one year, and attained various important achievements by observing not only aurora phenomena in the polar region of the Earth but also the long-term periodical changes of the Van Allen radiation belt (a radiation layer surrounding the Earth like a donut that consists of electrons and protons being held by the Earth's magnetic field.) Unfortunately many of the onboard observation instruments had stopped their operation due to deterioration by radiation, and the satellite was also not able to acquire enough observation data for scientific achievements lately because of degradation of its onboard electric system and lowered flight altitude. Therefore, JAXA decided to terminate it operation.
We would like to express our profound appreciation to all relevant personnel and organizations who have helped and supported us in our operations.
Image: (Left) Aurora Observation Satellite "AKEBONO" (EXOS-D). (Right) Configuration: 100 cm high, 126 cm long from face to face Octagonal cylinder with four solar-array paddles Equipped with 30 m-long antenna and two (5 m and 3 m) extendable masts.