Shin'en (spacecraft)

UNITEC -1 ( UNISEC Technology Experiment Carrier -1) - is an interplanetary space probe of the Japanese University Consortium UNISEC ( University Space Engineering Consortium).

Course

The size after a nano- satellite, was sent to this university probe on a path to Venus and should serve technological experiments and attempts to communicate over long distances there.

The launch took place on May 20 of 2010 ( Local Time: May 21 ) with a launcher type H- IIA ( 202) from the Japanese Tanegashima launch site. This missile also brought the Venus probe Akatsuki, the solar sail IKAROS experiment and three small CubeSats into a transfer orbit. UNITEC -1 was separated as the last satellite of the H-IIA upper stage. On the day after the start of the signals of the probe could be received until it entered the Earth's shadow. The distance amounted to around 320,000 km. Further attempts were unsuccessful and were discontinued on 31 May.

Specifications

  • Size: 35x35x35 cm cubical
  • Weight: 15.76 kg
  • Downlink - Frequency: 5.8 GHz
  • Downlink - Output power: 9.6 Watts

Mission Objectives

  • In the form of a competition various on-board computer of the participating universities are subjected to a test.
  • Determination of the path data of the probe by the bearing and the evaluation of the Doppler shift using the Kalman filters.

Construction

Five sides of the cube-shaped spacecraft carrying solar cells from gallium arsenide. On the sixth page the link to the launcher, or the Separationsmechnismus is attached. All on-board systems are mounted on four vertical plates on the inside of the body, the solar cells are used to power the loads and load to the buffering of a nickel -metal hydride batteries. The systems are not redundant. The probe does not stabilize the position, that is, to perform a wobbling motion during the flight. The probe has a parent board computer ( Main onboard computer ) and six other board computer ( University onboard computer ), that are provided by the participating universities and should be compared in their performance under space conditions.

International Designator Communication Akatsuki (spacecraft)
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