ETS-VIII
Encyclopedia
| Organization | JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The , or JAXA, is Japan's national aerospace agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on October 1, 2003, as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the... , NICT, NTT Nippon Telegraph and Telephone , commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked the 31st in Fortune Global 500, NTT is the largest telecommunications company in Asia, and the second-largest in the world in terms of revenue.... |
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| Mission Type | Satellite communication |
| Satellite of | Earth Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... |
| Launch | December 18, 2006 on a H-IIA rocket |
| Launch site | Tanegashima Space Center Tanegashima Space Center The is one of Japan's space development facilities. It is located on Tanegashima, an island located 115 km south of Kyūshū. It was established in 1969 when the National Space Development Agency of Japan was formed... |
| Mission duration | 10 years |
| Launch Mass Mass Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:... |
5800 kg |
| Webpage | JAXA |
| Orbital elements | |
| Apogee | |
| Eccentricity | |
| Inclination Inclination Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit... |
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| Orbital Period | |
| Right ascension Right ascension Right ascension is the astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system. The other coordinate is the declination.-Explanation:... of the ascending node |
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| Argument of perigee | |
| Instruments | |
JAXA Engineering Test Satellite ETS-VIII (Kiku 8) is the eighth technology test satellite in a series which started with ETS-1 in 1975 by NASDA. It was launched with the H-2A on December 18, 2006.
ETS-VIII was developed by JAXA in cooperation with NICT and NTT
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
, commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked the 31st in Fortune Global 500, NTT is the largest telecommunications company in Asia, and the second-largest in the world in terms of revenue....
.
The aim of ETS-VIII is to enable satellite communications with small terminals. Unlike the Iridium
Iridium (satellite)
Iridium Communications Inc. is a company, based in McLean, VA, United States which operates the Iridium satellite constellation, a system of 66 active satellites used for worldwide voice and data communication from hand-held satellite phones and other transceiver units...
satellites for mobile communication, ETS-VIII is positioned at GEO
Geosynchronous orbit
A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital period that matches the Earth's sidereal rotation period...
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However to fulfill the task the satellite must carry two very large antennas.
Timetable
- October 14, 2006 Launch of LDREX-2 with the Ariane 5Ariane 5Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...
, model antenna deployed. - December 26, 2006 Both antennas were deployed. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2006/12/20061226_kiku8-2_e.html
- January 9, 2007 GEO orbit injection. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/01/20070109_kiku8_e.html
- May 9, 2007 The satellite switched to normal operation phase. http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/05/20070509_sac_kiku8.pdf