Last month, Japanese space agency JAXA launched an X-ray astronomical satellite into space in an attempt to understand the high-energy universe in gamma rays and X-rays. The satellite, Hitomi, also known as ASTRO-H and New X-ray Telescope, is no more in contact with mission controllers on earth.

JAXA officials announced on Saturday that the agency officials are trying to understand what happened to the astronomy telescope. “Communication with the X-ray Astronomy Satellite "Hitomi" (ASTRO-H), launched on February 17, 2016 (JST), failed from the start of its operation originally scheduled at 16:40, Saturday March 26 (JST)”, said the agency in a statement.

The satellite’s current state is unknown, but the team is working to find the cause of communication failure, said JAXA.

The United States Joint Space Operations Center believes the satellite may have had an accident. The center, which keeps a close watch on space to locate space debris, also revealed that it has seen some objects within the Japanese satellite's vicinity. The broken pieces were spotted around the same time when the satellite lost contact, as per the US center.

There are high possibilities that the spotted debris may be of ASTRO-H, said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Dowell also said the broken pieces could be a result of a small failure and don’t mean complete destruction.

An energetic event may have caused the communication failure, said the astronomer. A gas leak or an exploded battery could be behind it. It suggests that the antenna of ASTRO-H may not be pointing where it must be, said McDowell.

According to Dowell, no one has given up hope, but the current situation may put the mission at risk. In the present conditions, the satellite may not be able to get the much needed solar energy.