A Japanese satellite H-2, designed to relay data and images of civilian and military Earth observation spacecraft, is set for a morning liftoff on a rocket.
According to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the dual-use communications satellite will orbit the H-2A rocket at 2:25 a.m. EST (0725 GMT; Japan Standard Time) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. H-2A rocket builder and launch operator.
The H-2A rocket spacecraft – part of the Japan Data Relay System, or JDRS – will deploy in elliptical geostationary orbit half an hour after the liftoff. The satellite will use its own propulsion system to reach a circular orbit of more than 22,000 miles (about 36,000 kilometers) above the equator, where it will enter service and embark on a 10-year mission.
At that itude altitude, the satellite will orbit at the same rate of Earth’s rotation, giving it a constant view over the Asia-Pacific region.
The new satellite carries a laser utilizing communication system, or Lucas, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. From its perch in geostationary orbit, the ical optical communication payload will connect to satellites flying several hundred miles above the earth with an infrared laser beam nearby, which will transmit data at a high rate.
A data relay satellite can communicate with the user spacecraft for about 40 minutes at each interval, relaying images, scientific data and other information between the Earth observation satellite and the ground station. This connection allows image analysts to retrieve data more quickly if they wait for the observation satellite to pass over the antenna on the ground.
The new optical data relay replaces the JXA’s Kodama spacecraft, which had S-band and Ka-band inter-satellite links, providing communication speeds of about 240 megabytes per second. JX dismantled the Kodama Satellite in 2017 after a 15-year mission.
A laser-equipped relay will allow the speed of satellite data transmission to be 1.8 gigabytes per second, seven times faster than possible from a coda. The diameter of the antenna for Kodama radio frequency transmission is 11.8 feet or 3.6 meters, while the laser terminal for the optical relay satellite is 5.5 inches or 14 centimeters in diameter.
Jacques launched an experimental test satellite called Kirari in 2005 to demonstrate inter-satellite laser communication links.
Using it as a foot, Lucas was used for high reliability, miniature and a significant improvement in communication capabilities for practical use, JXA said.
Designed for a 10-year mission, the new optical data relay satellite will spy on Japan’s citizen-operated Earth observation satellites and Japan’s fleet-intelligence gathering surveillance spacecraft North Korea and other strategy issues.
Jax is not expected to give a live webcast of the launch on Sunday, due to a sensitive military connection with a possible data relay payload. Japanese officials also did not disclose the exact exact operating position of the new satellite in geostationary orbit, or specifics about its mass and size.
The development includes civilian satellites aimed at using the new laser data relay station, Japan’s Elos 3 and Elos 4 land imaging observations. Once launched, Aelos 3 and Aelos 4 will collect images to assist in disaster response, environmental monitoring, agricultural and forestry management, and urban infrastructure planning.
Sunday’s launch will mark the 43rd flight of the H-2A rocket since 2001, and Japan’s fourth space launch of the year.
Powered by a hydrogen fuel LE-7A main engine and two strap-on solid rocket boosters, the H-2A launcher will move east from the Tanegashima Space Center with 1.4 million pounds of thrust and into the Pacific Ocean.
Less than two minutes after the lift off, a 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket will ignite the Bwen strap-on booster and Jetson. As the H-2A’s core engine shuts down and the first phase misses about six and a half minutes into the mission, the data relay will leave the cryogenic upper phase to pair the firing to place the satellite in its target egg. Shape transfer orbit.
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