On to business

I awoke this morning to the sounds of fighter jets screaming overhead above an overcast sky.  It was a "subtle" reminder that JAXA-ISAS is only about 20 miles from the Yokota US Air Force base.  I rushed outside into the brisk December morning air to collect a hot canned coffee from the vending machine downstairs before returning to my room to join the first telecon among the now official Venus Climate Orbiter (Akatsuki) Participating Scientist team.

I won't lie; it was a telecon, so it was pretty dull.  But that does not mean there was not also tremendous excitement!  Everybody was very upbeat about the success of the orbit insertion and the prospects of very much good science soon to come.  We discussed the details of the VOI and the current orbit that have been learned in the meantime; and we briefly discussed our science plans.  We are all looking forward to getting started and helping our Japanese colleagues to succeed in their endeavour.

The first step in this is a meeting involving all of the American and Japanese scientists and engineers on the team.  This will happen after the Akatsuki team have begun to adjust their spacecraft's orbit to one that is more conducive to scientific observations.  The orbit that was achieved has a very long period (about 14 days) that takes is very far from the planet (almost the same distance that the Moon is from the Earth).  The instruments were designed to observe Venus from a much smaller distance.  Akatsuki will not get quite as close as was originally planned (for the 2010 arrival); but the team will be able to get closer than they are now.  By January, it is likely that we will either know the parameters of, or will be in, the final science orbit.

I am sure that I speak for the entire NASA Akatsuki Participating Scientist Team when I say:
私達は頑張ます。