Japan moves to test "space yacht" and solve Venus's "biggest mystery"

[Kshasty]

A Japanese H-2A rocket blasted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Friday carrying the country's first Venus probe and an experimental solar sail, the country's space agency said.

The liftoff was initially scheduled early Tuesday, but was postponed until 1:58 Moscow time Friday <21:58 GMT Tuesday> due to poor weather conditions.

Akatsuki (Dawn), the rocket's main payload, will approach Venus in six months and will move around the planet in an ellicliptical orbit for two years to study the Earth's "sister planet" from the distance of 80-300 km. It has a mass of 500 lbs and a life expectancy of 4.5 years.

"Akatsuki will employ infrared light to observe and elucidate the mysteries surrounding the atmosphere under the clouds and the conditions on the planet's surface," Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a mission overview.

Though Venus is similar to Earth in size, gravity and bulk composition, it is covered with a dense layer of highly reflective sulfuric acid clouds, making it almost impossible to see the planet's surface in visible light. To that end, Akatsuki is equipped with an ultraviolet imager and a longwave infrared camera.

One of the mission's main objectives is gain insight into the so-called "super-rotation" of the Venus's upper atmospheric layers, which results in severe storms raging with the speed of about 300 kmph.

http://en.rian.ru/science/20100521/159097190.html