Black Hole Explorer That Took A Tumble Into Space Beyond Earth's Reach

The black hole explorer Hitomi continues to tumble in space even as its ground handlers feverishly try to get a hold of it.

Soon after it mysteriously lost contact with Earth earlier this week, the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center said the satellite broke into five pieces over the last weekend. The estimate was made based on debris around the satellite. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which continued to contact the satellite, received two messages on Monday before losing contact again.

The x-ray satellite is in a freefall spin, notes astronomer Paul Maley. In a video shot, the satellite is seen rapidly moving across the sky and rotating every 23 seconds. The high speed of rotation was reportedly preventing communication with the ground station.

Observation of the spinning satellite and the receipt of signals allow for some hope that the $ 273 million spacecraft can be salvaged. Space agencies are wondering if a technical fault on the spacecraft sent it tumbling as a collision with debris has been nearly ruled out. One theory is that the satellite is shooting out gas, which is likely to be boiled liquid helium that is acting as rocket thrust. Helium is used for cooling spacecrafts.

Hitomi's sudden turn in fortunes have left many disappointed as the satellite was launched only last month to collect groundbreaking astronomical data. The satellite carries a x-ray spectrometer that was expected to shed light on galaxies and black holes. The data it sent before it went tumbling has been termed fascinating.

It must be noted that Hitomi's is third in a series of attempts by JAXA after its first two predecessors failed. The first ASTRO-E telescope launched in 2000 was lost in a crash launch while the second, Suzaku, was lost to helium leak, a fate that Hitomi may have met.