Quote from: GClark on 04/30/2016 06:40 amI must respectfully disagree. Asuka and Suzaku worked for 7 and 10 years respectively before they failed. Akari operated successfully for 5 1/2 years. Only Hitomi has been a total failure.1 out of 7 ain't bad odds, given the Japanese dedication to holding costs down on their science missions.Well maybe they should re-examine the idea of always holding down costs if it's going to cause major failures such as this. Better to spend a bit more money if it means avoiding this kind of loss.
I must respectfully disagree. Asuka and Suzaku worked for 7 and 10 years respectively before they failed. Akari operated successfully for 5 1/2 years. Only Hitomi has been a total failure.1 out of 7 ain't bad odds, given the Japanese dedication to holding costs down on their science missions.
http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/astro_h/files/topics_20160524.pdfHitomi Experience Report: Investigation of Anomalies Affecting the X-ray Astronomy Satellite “Hitomi” (ASTRO-H) May 24, 2016JAXA
Quote from: Star One on 04/30/2016 07:24 amQuote from: GClark on 04/30/2016 06:40 amI must respectfully disagree. Asuka and Suzaku worked for 7 and 10 years respectively before they failed. Akari operated successfully for 5 1/2 years. Only Hitomi has been a total failure.1 out of 7 ain't bad odds, given the Japanese dedication to holding costs down on their science missions.Well maybe they should re-examine the idea of always holding down costs if it's going to cause major failures such as this. Better to spend a bit more money if it means avoiding this kind of loss.It's easy to say post-factum.Spending more and more money and adding layers and layers of testing can give you a very reliable system... which then ends up being too costly and noncompetitive. Ask ULA.Finding a good balance between reliability and cost is nowhere near easy.
Quote from: gospacex on 05/27/2016 02:27 pmQuote from: Star One on 04/30/2016 07:24 amQuote from: GClark on 04/30/2016 06:40 amI must respectfully disagree. Asuka and Suzaku worked for 7 and 10 years respectively before they failed. Akari operated successfully for 5 1/2 years. Only Hitomi has been a total failure.1 out of 7 ain't bad odds, given the Japanese dedication to holding costs down on their science missions.Well maybe they should re-examine the idea of always holding down costs if it's going to cause major failures such as this. Better to spend a bit more money if it means avoiding this kind of loss.It's easy to say post-factum.Spending more and more money and adding layers and layers of testing can give you a very reliable system... which then ends up being too costly and noncompetitive. Ask ULA.Finding a good balance between reliability and cost is nowhere near easy.What is being competitive got to do with a mission like this so I don't see how the comparison to ULA is at all valid. This is a bespoke science mission not a launcher supplier.
Jeff Foust – @jeff_foustOkumura: expect Diet to approve budget bill, and thus decide on funding for ASTRO-H replacement, by the end of December.
QuoteJeff Foust – @jeff_foustOkumura: expect Diet to approve budget bill, and thus decide on funding for ASTRO-H replacement, by the end of December.https://mobile.twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/779004111886876673
Some good news as this mission will replace the recently lost Hitomi.QuoteWASHINGTON — NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA will start work this spring on an orbiting X-ray astronomy telescope to replace one lost shortly after launch last year.In a presentation to the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Academies March 28, Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said a formal start of the project known as the X-Ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM) will take place shortly after the start of the new Japanese fiscal year April 1.“We are moving forward with the X-Ray Astronomy Recovery Mission,” Hertz said. The mission, he said, was included in the Japanese government’s budget for the new fiscal year, pending approval by the country’s parliament, the Diet.- See more at: http://spacenews.com/nasa-and-jaxa-to-develop-replacement-x-ray-astronomy-telescope/#sthash.tVHs7M9C.dpuf
WASHINGTON — NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA will start work this spring on an orbiting X-ray astronomy telescope to replace one lost shortly after launch last year.In a presentation to the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Academies March 28, Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said a formal start of the project known as the X-Ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM) will take place shortly after the start of the new Japanese fiscal year April 1.“We are moving forward with the X-Ray Astronomy Recovery Mission,” Hertz said. The mission, he said, was included in the Japanese government’s budget for the new fiscal year, pending approval by the country’s parliament, the Diet.
Thanks to an in-depth look into the composition of gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster, Japan’s Hitomi mission has given scientists new insights into the stellar explosions that formed its chemical elements.Before its brief mission ended unexpectedly in March 2016, Japan’s Hitomi X-ray observatory captured exceptional information about the motions of hot gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster. Now, thanks to unprecedented detail provided by an instrument developed jointly by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), scientists have been able to analyze more deeply the chemical make-up of this gas, providing new insights into the stellar explosions that formed most of these elements and cast them into space.