is a Japanese

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

which launched in May 2010. It is a student-built spacecraft, which will be operated by Soka University, and is intended to be used for technology demonstration. The satellite is a single unit

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

, and will be used to test a

field programmable gate array A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware ...

in orbit. As part of an outreach programme, it will carry the names of selected children, along with wishes they have made. The satellite will return images of the Earth, which will be given to the participating children. The launch was conducted by

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi ...

under contract to the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

. In preparation for a planned launch on 17 May, the

H-IIA H-IIA (H-2A) is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. These liquid fuel rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit; lunar o ...

rocket was rolled out to Pad 1 of the

Yoshinobu Launch Complex Yoshinobu Launch Complex (LC-Y) is a rocket launch site at the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built for the H-II launch vehicle and later used for H-IIA and H-IIB launches. I ...

at the Tanegashima Space Centre on 16 May 2010. It departed the assembly building at 21:01 UTC and arriving at the launch pad 24 minutes later at 21:25 UTC. The terminal countdown began at 11:30 UTC on 17 May and by 15:28, the loading of

cryogenic propellant Cryogenic fuels are fuels that require storage at extremely low temperatures in order to maintain them in a liquid state. These fuels are used in machinery that operates in space (e.g. rockets and satellites) where ordinary fuel cannot be used, d ...

into the rocket's first and second stages had been completed. The launch attempt was scrubbed a few minutes before liftoff due to bad weather, but took place successfully at 21:58:22 UTC on 20 May 2010. Negai was deployed from a

JAXA Picosatellite Deployer The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

attached to the second stage of the H-IIA 202 rocket used in the launch of the

Akatsuki may refer to: * Akatsuki (spacecraft), an uncrewed Venus orbiter * , any of three classes of destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy * , any of three destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy * ''Akatsuki'' (train), operated between Kyoto and N ...

spacecraft towards

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. Negai shared its dispenser with the

K-Sat Hayato, known before launch as KSAT, or the Kagoshima Satellite, is a Japanese satellite which was launched on 20 May 2010. It is a student-built spacecraft, which is operated by Kagoshima University, and is being used for technology demonstrat ...

satellite, whilst a second dispenser contained

Waseda-SAT2 Waseda-SAT2 is a Japanese satellite which launched in May 2010. It is a student-built spacecraft, which will be operated by Waseda University, and is intended to be used for Earth observation and technology demonstration. It will test the use of ...

. The three CubeSats separated 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 m ...

during a

coast phase An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

of the launch, between the first and second burns of the second stage. The rocket then continued to Heliocentric orbit, where it deployed Akatsuki, along with the

IKAROS IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA) experimental spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched on 20 May 2010, aboard an H-IIA rocket, together with the ''Akatsuki'' ...

and

UNITEC-1 ''Shin'en'', known before launch as UNITEC-1 or UNISEC Technology Experiment Carrier 1, is a Japanese student spacecraft which was intended to make a flyby of Venus in order to study the effects of interplanetary spaceflight on spacecraft comp ...

spacecraft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Negai (Satellite) Spacecraft launched in 2010 Student satellites Satellites of Japan CubeSats Spacecraft which reentered in 2010 Spacecraft launched by H-II rockets

See also

References