Raiko

Spacecraft nr:

Japanese spacecraft nr: 178

Launch data: Designation  38852 / 98067CN Launch date  21 July 2012  Ejected from Kibo airlock on Oct 4, 2012 at 14:37 UT Launch site  Tanegashima, YLP-2  ISS Kibo, LEO Launch vehicle  H-2B-304 Mission  Technology Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee   km Eccentricity   Inclination   deg Period   min

Remarks:

• Raiko is launched on board of HTV 3 to the International Space Station, from where it will be deployed.
  
• The five cubesats ejected from Kibo on Oct 4, 2012 have been cataloged as 1998-067CN to 1998-067CS.
• The cubesats went into space on the 2012-038 (HTV-3) launch but USSTRATCOM, to whom the World Data Center at GSFC has delegated the naming process, has elected to label all ISS-associated objects with the Zarya module's launch number.
  
• Launched together with HTV 3, We Wish, FITSat 1, F 1 & TechEdSat
  

Description:

• The mission of Raiko is:
  • Shooting images of the Earth through a fish-eye lens camera
  • Measuring relative movement when deployed from the ISS through photo shooting
  • Experiment of a star sensor
  • Orbit descending experiment using membrane deployment (carrying an imager and a deployable 'drag-membrane' to make the satellite reenter more quickly)
  • Development of a small movable ground station and receiving signals via international cooperation
  • Orbit determination experiment by Doppler frequency measurement of Ku-band beacon radio wave
  • High speed data communication experiment by Ku-band communication equipment

Mission details:

• The HTV-3 pressurized module contains 8 HTV Resupply Racks with station supplies and equipment, including two J-SSOD picosat deployers and the MPEP adapter. Later this year, astronauts will attach the J-SSOD packages to the MPEP and then put the MPEP in the Kibo module's small science airlock. When the airlock is opened to space, JAXA's JEM-RMS robot arm will grab the MPEP and stick it pointing in the desired direction. The J-SSODs will then shoot out their contents, five small satellites. The first J-SSOD carries RAIKO and WE WISH. The second J-SSOD carries three 1 kg single-cubes: F-1, TechEdSat and the Niwaka.
• On Oct 4, 2012 the two J-SSOD cubesat deployers were moved outside the Kibo equipment airlock by the JEM-RMS robot arm. The first J-SSOD ejected its payloads at 1432 UTC - the RAIKO and We Wish cubesats. The second J-SSOD deployed F-1, Niwaka, and TechEdSat at 1544 UTC.