The Lambda 4S or L-4S was an experimental Japanese

expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

. It was produced by

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

and the

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is a Japanese national research organization of astrophysics using rockets, astronomical satellites and interplanetary probes which played a major role in Japan's space development. Since 2003, it is a division of Japan Aerospace E ...

and launched five times between 1966 and 1970 with Ohsumi technology demonstration satellites. The first four launches failed, however the fifth, launched on 11 February 1970, successfully placed Ohsumi-5, the first Japanese satellite, into orbit. The Lambda 4S consisted of four stages, with two

booster rockets A booster rocket (or engine) is either the first stage of a multistage rocket, multistage launch vehicle, or else a shorter-burning rocket used in parallel with longer-burning sustainer engine, sustainer rockets to augment the space vehicle's t ...

augmenting the first stage. SB-310 rockets were used as boosters, with an L735 first stage. The second stage was a reduced length derivative of the L735, whilst an

L500 L5 or L-5 may refer to: Entertainment * L5 (band), French female pop music group * L5 Games, video games developer published by Gravity Interactive * Gibson L5, electric guitar * "Home on Lagrange (The L5 Song)", a filk song Science * Haplogroup ...

was used as the third stage. The fourth stage was an L480S. All four stages burned

solid propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the e ...

. The Lambda 4S could place of payload into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

. It was launched from the Kagoshima Space Centre. Following its retirement in 1970, a

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

derived from it, the Lambda 4SC, flew three times in order to test technologies for the Mu rockets to follow. The Mu replaced Lambda for orbital launches.

References

External links

ISAS L-4S web pageThe Challenge of Japan's First Satellite
{{Expendable launch systems Solid-fuel rockets Space launch vehicles of Japan Microsatellite launch vehicles Nissan vehicles

See also

References

External links