Hitomi: Japan’s black hole-finding satellite appears to return after mystery disappearance

The satellite — which its makers had hoped would answer some of the greatest questions of the universe — may have broken into bits and be flying around above our heads

(JAXA)

Japan’s Hitomi satellite briefly appeared to return to contact with the Earth after losing all contact with its owners. But it has gone again — and nobody really knows why.

Scientists are now scrambling to try and save the satellite as it spins around above our heads. The kit, which together cost more than a quarter of a billion dollars, had been held as a potential answer to some of the biggest questions of the universe — and is now flying around space, out of control.

Earlier this week an unknown problem with the craft appears to have stopped it from being able to contact Earth. A video then appeared, taken from Earth, showing the satellite spinning around in the sky and apparently out of control.

The team behind the mission have said that they received two very short messages from the satellite, neither of which said very much. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) “has not been able to figure out the state of its health, as the time frames for receiving the signals were very short,” the team said.

But the freefall spinning that has been seen from the Earth might be the reason that its owners can’t talk to it, Gizmodo reported. Because it has spun so out of control, the antenna that would normally be pointing at the Earth is shooting off in all directions, and Hitomi’s owners can’t connect for long enough to control it or to find out what happened.

But it’s out-of-control spin might also be cause for hope. It seems to have been thrown off into its spin by something unusual blowing up — a gas leak or a battery explosion — which may be leading it to spin around.

That is bad news for the team that want to get back in touch with the machine. But the freefall and the brief message does appear to suggest that it didn’t outright blow up, meaning that at least some of it may be recovered.

Before Hitomi was lost, its team had hoped that it could be used to explore the very fabric of the universe. It was to look at how galaxies form and look at the ways that matter falls into black holes — but all of that was spoilt when its team lost control of it on 26 March, just over a month after it was first launched.