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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-...ays-human-error-caused-satellite-loss/7368746
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has admitted human error was behind the loss of a multi-million-dollar astronomy satellite, which broke into pieces last month.
Ground control engineers lost contact with the ASTRO-H satellite as it was being directed toward an active galactic centre.
The satellite known as Hitomi was developed in conjunction with the US space agency NASA and was created to gather data to help study the origin of the universe and the presence of black holes.
It was launched to great fanfare in February, but a month later, JAXA confirmed it had lost communication with the satellite and there were fears it had broken apart.
Dr Saku Tsumeta, the director of the Space Science Research Centre at JAXA, said the agency did its best to recover the $365 million satellite, but it was time to give up.
"We feel very sorry about it," he said, apologising to the Japanese people who supported the satellite and to the agency's partner, NASA.
"There was a human error, but in a critical system like this we have to imagine that humans do make errors," he said.
"So rather than thinking of this as an error of a human, we believe that there's a problem in the system."
Dr Tsumeta added the agency will not have the means to launch a replacement for 12 years.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has admitted human error was behind the loss of a multi-million-dollar astronomy satellite, which broke into pieces last month.
Ground control engineers lost contact with the ASTRO-H satellite as it was being directed toward an active galactic centre.
The satellite known as Hitomi was developed in conjunction with the US space agency NASA and was created to gather data to help study the origin of the universe and the presence of black holes.
It was launched to great fanfare in February, but a month later, JAXA confirmed it had lost communication with the satellite and there were fears it had broken apart.
Dr Saku Tsumeta, the director of the Space Science Research Centre at JAXA, said the agency did its best to recover the $365 million satellite, but it was time to give up.
"We feel very sorry about it," he said, apologising to the Japanese people who supported the satellite and to the agency's partner, NASA.
"There was a human error, but in a critical system like this we have to imagine that humans do make errors," he said.
"So rather than thinking of this as an error of a human, we believe that there's a problem in the system."
Dr Tsumeta added the agency will not have the means to launch a replacement for 12 years.
