The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says it has determined that the satellite's two solar arrays had broken off at their bases.
Hitomi, the X-ray astronomy satellite Japan launched in February, has lost communication with Earth. (Photo: Jaxa/Kyodo)
Tokyo: Japan's space agency has abandoned its efforts to restore the operations of a multi million-dollar satellite that was to probe the mysteries of black holes using X-ray telescopes.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says it has determined that the satellite's two solar arrays had broken off at their bases.
Contact was lost with the satellite on March 26, more than a month after its launch on Feb. 17.The space agency said Thursday that it would stop trying to fix the satellite and focus on figuring out what went wrong.
Japan's Kyodo News agency says that Japan spent about 31 billion yen ($290 million) on the project.
( Source : AP )
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