Overview

• JAXA executed termination procedures on September 18, 2025, beginning at 9:00 a.m. JST after formally closing recovery efforts.
• Communication was lost in late April 2024 during a lower-precision attitude control mode, and months of attempts to reestablish contact were unsuccessful as the craft had far outlived its design life.
• Akatsuki launched on May 21, 2010, missed its first Venus orbit insertion after a main-engine malfunction in December 2010, and used its reaction control system to achieve orbit in December 2015.
• Over more than eight years in orbit, the mission mapped clouds and lightning, discovered a giant stationary gravity wave, advanced understanding of atmospheric super-rotation, and pioneered data assimilation for Venus.
• With operations ended, there is currently no spacecraft orbiting Venus, although NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS missions and ESA’s EnVision are planned for later this decade or the next.