Posted on behalf of David Cyranoski

UPDATE – 8 December. After this blog was posted, JAXA reported that indeed their orbiter had failed to enter Venus’s orbit. See the full story: ‘False dawn for Japan’s Venus mission’.

Scientists and engineers at Japan’s space agency (JAXA) are still waiting to see if their Venus climate orbiter, Akatsuki, has successfully manoeuvred into the sizzing hot planet’s orbit.

After firing reverse thrusters on Tuesday morning (Japanese time – or around midnight GMT), Akatsuki was supposed to drop into Venus’s gravitational pull. From that position, researchers hoped that the 25 billion yen ($300 million) craft could spend two years studying the planet’s climate, resolving mysteries such as why the atmosphere of Earth’s scorching hot neighbour is able to ‘super rotate’ at speeds of up to 60 times that of its host planet.

But the craft lost contact with ground control for more than an hour longer than expected, and is now officially in ‘safe mode’. Scientists are still waiting to confirm details about its whereabouts and condition. They fear Akatsuki might have missed its one chance to enter Venus’ orbit.