RAPIS 1

Launch data: Designation  43932 / 19003A Launch date  18 Jan 2019 - 00:50 UT 9:50:20 AM (Japan Standard Time) Launch site  Uchinoura, LP-M Launch vehicle  Epsilon CLPS Mission  Technology Sun synchronous Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  498 x 510 km Eccentricity   Inclination  97.3° Period   min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• Rapis 1 tests a lightweight solar cell paddle mechanism to expand five panels in orbit. The size of the expansion is about 2 m × 3 m. It tests two objects: Whether the lightweight solar cell paddle is successfully deployed and wether the power from the solar cell is normally supplied after the paddle is deployed.
• Designed and operated by newspace startup Axelspace.
• RAPIS-1 is part of JAXA′s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program, an initiative to provide in-orbit validation opportunities to external entities, with the objective of strengthening the technologies behind core satellite components. The Japanese Government′s space program has scheduled four demonstration launch opportunities, one every two years. This launch represents the first of these four and is termed “Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1”, and carries seven demonstration experiments.
• These demonstrations are:
  • Testing the space environment tolerance of a field-programmable gate array (FGPA), by NEC
  • 2-3 Gbps X-band downlink in-orbit demonstration by Keio University
  • Green Propellant Reaction Control System (GPRCS) by Japan Space Systems
  • Space Particle Monitor (SPM) by Japan Space Systems
  • Deep learning attitude sensor/star tracker by Tokyo Institute of Technology
  • Light-weight solar panel apparatus by JAXA
  • Miniaturized low-power GNSS receiver by Chubu University

Mission details:

• JAXA′s fourth Epsilon vehicle flew from Uchinoura on Jan 18, 2019 and placed a number of small satellites in orbit. The third stage reached a 221 x 734 km transfer orbit, and the PBS stage entered a 480 x 512 km orbit where the satellites were deployed.
• RAPIS-1 (Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite), the main payload, is a 200 kg technology satellite with a variety of experiments including a test of a ′green′ propellant thruster system.
• The successful separation of RAPIS-1 was confirmed about 50 minutes after launch.

External links:

• Axelspace: Satellite Information
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking