Japan loses contact with its newest astronomy satellite, Hitomi 

 he Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is trying to establish communication with its new X-ray astronomy satellite, after the probe stayed silent over the weekend. The satellite, named Hitomi, was supposed to start operating at 3:40AM ET on Saturday March 26th, but the spacecraft failed to communicate with Earth at that time.

Five pieces of debris were spotted around the satellite

JAXA it isn't sure what state the spacecraft is in, and there are fears that Hitomi may have broken apart in space. The US Joint Space Operations Center, responsible for tracking space debris, tweeted on Saturday that it had spotted five pieces of debris around the satellite at around 4:20AM ET. The center ultimately identified the event as a "breakup," but did not indicate what may have caused the incident. Additionally, Paul Maley, an observational astronomer in Arizona, reported seeing Hitomi rotating once every 10 seconds or so, suggesting that it has somehow been knocked into an unintended spin.

On Monday, JAXA said it received a short signal from the satellite, but did not provide any more details or say when the signal was established. The agency has set up an "emergency headquarters" to recover communications with Hitomi and will provide updates when they are available.

The Hitomi satellite, also known as ASTRO-H, is designed to study turbulent and energetic space events throughout the Universe. To do this, the probe has a series of instruments that can observe energy wavelengths ranging from soft X-rays to soft Gamma Rays. These will allow Hitomi to get more information about supermassive black holes, neutron stars, and the formation of galaxy clusters.