Dozens of Japanese scientists and engineers are scrambling to save a satellite — and more than a quarter of a billion dollars of investment — tumbling out of control in space. Hitomi, meaning the pupil of the eye, was launched last month.
It was designed to study energetic space objects such as supermassive black holes, neutron stars, and galaxy clusters, by observing energy wavelengths from X-rays to gamma-rays. But time is now running out to save the mission.
The US Joint Space Operations Center, which tracks space debris, detected five small objects around the satellite. Ground control in Japan managed brief contact with the spacecraft after that, but then lost contact. The satellite appeared to show a sudden change of course, and observers on Earth have seen it appearing to flash, suggesting it may be tumbling.