- Scientists are currently looking for a missing satellite from Japan
- The Hitomi, a billion-dollar spacecraft went missing into space
- Experts speculate that this might have exploded or external objects affected it
Scientists in Japan are in big trouble as they sweep through space looking for a billion-dollar satellite launched last month to study black holes.
Hitomi, Japanese for pupil of the eye, went missing after it “briefly made contact with ground crews,” said a story posted on GMA News Online.
Researchers speculate that the high-technology satellite might have separated into pieces during its exploration.
According to the spokesman of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the scientists know the approximate location of the satellite but they have yet to exactly point where it is.
JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science director Saku Tsuneta defended that they are “taking the situation seriously.”
Some experts weigh in on what possible things could have also happened to the lost spacecraft.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said the satellite may have either had a gas leakage or a battery explosion.
But Prof. Goh Cher Hiang from the National University of Singapore downplayed the possibilities McDowell mentioned. He said that these are very rare, adding that external factors could be the reason.
“It could also be from a collision with something in space, either from outer space or a man-made object already in space,” he said.
Hitomi was a project developed by the United States-based NASA and other related organizations. It was launched in February 17.
“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,” said a story by BBC.
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