Nozomi (PLANET-B)
Nozomi (PLANET-B) — Japan's first mission to Mars, launched by ISAS on 3 July 1998 (UTC) to study the upper atmosphere of Mars and its interaction with the solar wind. A faulty valve during its Earth swing-by in December 1998 cost it propellant, so its arrival was put off from 1999 to 2003, by way of two more Earth flybys; in April 2002 a solar flare damaged its power system. On 9 December 2003 ISAS gave up the attempt to enter orbit, and on 14 December Nozomi passed about 1,000 km above Mars and went on into an orbit around the Sun. (Its position here is representative.)
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- ISAS (Japan)
- Launched
- July 3, 1998
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1.58 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 1.6 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Mars
- 7,645,182 km
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Nozomi, "Hope" in Japanese, known before launch as PLANET-B, was Japan's first mission to Mars. ISAS launched it on an M-V rocket from Uchinoura on 3 July 1998 at 18:12 UTC. It was planned as a Mars orbiter to study the upper atmosphere of Mars and its interaction with the solar wind, with 14 instruments. After two swings past the Moon it passed Earth on 20 December 1998, about 1,000 km up, and fired its engine to head for Mars; a faulty valve left the burn short, and two correction burns the next day used more propellant than planned. ISAS replanned the route: two more Earth flybys, in December 2002 and June 2003, and arrival in December 2003 instead of October 1999. On the way, a solar flare in April 2002 (as NSSDCA and NASA's history date it) damaged its power and thermal systems. On 9 December 2003 an attempt to turn it for the orbit-insertion burn failed, and ISAS gave up. Its small thrusters steered it away from Mars, so that it would not strike the planet, and on 14 December 2003 it passed about 1,000 km above the surface and went on into an orbit around the Sun near that of Mars. On the way it had mapped the hydrogen of interplanetary space in ultraviolet light and seen the helium ions around Earth from outside for the first time.
- 1998Nozomi launches toward Mars on an M-V rocketLaunch
Japan's first mission to Mars.
A faulty valve leaves its burn short, and its arrival is put off to 2003.
- 2003The attempt to enter orbit is given upMilestone
It is steered away from Mars so that it will not strike the planet.
Into an orbit around the Sun.
Images
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