Here's a very interesting article about this orbit insertion, how the main rocket engine was destroyed in flight, and how JAXA hacked together a solution using

Here's a very interesting article about this orbit insertion, how the main rocket engine was destroyed in flight, and how JAXA hacked together a solution using only RCS thrusters: The Akatsuki story is particularly interesting for two reasons. First, because the failure was documented in exceptional detail, with telemetry from the propulsion and attitude control system available to reconstruct, like the “black box” on an airliner, the events leading up to the anomaly. JAXA is to be commended on its openness: in the challenges of space we can all learn from others, and some western agencies are not always as forthcoming with technical details of anomalies. And second, because the Akatsuki story may yet have a happy ending. http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2015/1204-akatsuki-returns-to-venus.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2015/1204-akatsuk...