Japan 's 273 million dollar black hole satellite is missing

Japanese cosmologists are searching for traces of Hitomi, a $ 250 million satellite, launched into orbit to study black holes.

Black hole Hitomin satellite is worth 273 million USD.(Photo: JAXA)

According to the Japan Aviation Discovery Agency (JAXA), the modern Hitomi satellite (Eye) equipped with advanced technology must have contacted the Earth, but no one knows its exact location. . Discovery News reported that the device only made brief contact with the research team on the ground, then disappeared completely. American scientists think it may have broken into pieces.

" We are seriously considering the situation ," Saku Tsuneta, director of JAXA's Institute of Astronautics and Astronautics, said in a press conference on March 27. According to JAXA spokesman, 40 technicians are trying to determine the position of the satellite and establish contact with it.

Hitomi satellite was jointly developed by JAXA with the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) and many other organizations, launched into orbit on February 17. Hitomi's design helps it observe X-rays emitted from black holes and galaxy clusters. Black holes have never been observed directly, but scientists believe they are collapsing stars with gravity so great that nothing can escape.

Missing satellite worth $ 273 million, including the cost of launching, rotating on orbit at an altitude of about 580 km. The rocket carries a satellite launched from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.