Moscow. October 7th. INTERFAX.RU – The Japanese light launch vehicle Epsilon-5 on Thursday should launch into orbit with a group of nine small satellites, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reported.
The launch is scheduled to take place at 00:51 GMT (03:51 Moscow time) from the Utinoura cosmodrome on the Japanese island of Kyushu.
The rocket will launch into orbit the Japanese experimental RAISE-2 satellite weighing 110 kg, as well as TeikyoSat-4, Hibari, Z-Sat, DRUMS, ASTERISC, ARICA, NANODRAGON and KOSEN-1 spacecraft, which weigh from 4 to 62 kg.
The RAISE 2 satellite, created by Mitsubishi Electric Corp., is designed to test several different space technologies, including measuring the position, altitude and speed of orbiters.
Microsatellite DRUMS, designed to test the technology of garbage collection in orbit. The device, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, will have to release a small object during the flight, and then capture it, demonstrating the ability to catch orbital debris.
Among nine satellites, eight of which have been developed by Japanese companies and universities, the Vietnamese NanoDragon spacecraft, developed at the National Space Center of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, will also be launched into orbit. Its weight is only 3.8 kg. It is designed to receive and transmit signals from the International Automatic Identification System (AIS) to track the movement of ships.
The initial launch of Epsilon-5 with nine satellites was scheduled for October 1. However, due to technical problems in the radar equipment in the flight control center, which must track the telemetry of the flight path, the launch was canceled 19 seconds before the start. This is the fifth Epsilon rocket launch. The first was held on September 14, 2013, the last one on January 18, 2019.
Epsilon is a Japanese light-class three-stage solid-propellant rocket designed to launch light spacecraft into orbit. The rocket is 24 meters high. It can deliver a payload weighing 1.2 tons into orbit.
