|
Satoshi Yamada Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Three small
satellites, each designed and developed by Japanese university
students, will be launched into space over a one-year period beginning
in autumn.
The satellites
are part of a project set up by Tohoku University in Miyagi Prefecture,
Tokyo University and Tokyo Institute of Technology to nurture
younger researchers through practical experiments--in this case
by observing the Leonid meteor shower.
In light of
the launch failures that have marred Japan's space program in
the past, the satellites will be placed in orbit aboard rockets
launched by foreign countries. The universities are raising technical
and financial support for the launches from relevant companies
in order to help enhance interests among Japan's young researchers,
One of the
student research teams, led by Tohoku University and the Institute
of Space and Astronomical Science and monitored by the Education,
Science and Technology Ministry plans to launch a satellite to
monitor the next major Leonid meteor shower, which will occur
over North America in November 2002. The satellite was designed
in 1999 by a team of university students led by Hiroshi Hamano,
who at the time was a senior and is now pursuing a graduate degree.
The team's design received the Idea Award at the 1999 Satellite
Design Contest, which is considered a major career boost for young
researchers eyeing careers in the satellite industry.
Hajime Yano,
an assistant researcher at the the Institute of Space and Astronautical
Science who is involved in the project, praised the team's design.
"The idea to directly observe the impact of meteor showers
on the Earth is unique," he said. Yano is a veteran of a
U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration project to
observe meteor showers from an airplane.
The Leonids
are seen at an altitude of about 200 kilometers, higher than most
meteor streams, and are thus monitored more clearly from satellites
on the orbit 300 kilometers above the Earth than from the ground.
According
to Yano, detailed photographs of the Leonids will enable researchers
to observe meteorites more easily before they hit the Earth's
surface.
The team has
come up with a 50-centimeter-long cubic satellite that weighs
about 50 kilograms and is equipped with several types of digital
cameras that can capture a variety of light rays. The satellite
will be "piggy-backed" into space on a U.S. or Russian
rocket before August 2002.
The project
created by the university students has attracted attention internationally,
and the research team is considering the participation of 11 organizations
in eight countries such as the United States and Britain in the
project by receiving data. "When I first heard that our satellite
will be really launched, I became afraid that we could not complete
it," Hamano said.
Tohoku University's
Assistant Prof. Kazuya Yoshida said, "The project as an experience-oriented
education in space engineering is a golden opportunity for students.
We want to invite participation in the project without the framework
of universities."
'Dice'
satellites
Meanwhile,
two "dice" satellites developed by Tokyo University
and Tokyo Institute of Technology will be launched in November
at Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan. The satellites, which
are made of 10-centimeter square panels weighing about one kilogram
each, will be launched with assistance from the Japan-U.S. University
Space Systems Symposium, which comprises university and space-related
organizations from the two countries.
The Russian
rocket Dnieper will place the two Japanese satellites, along with
16 other satellites, into orbit about 400 kilometers above the
Earth's surface. The two satellites will be the first satellites
made by Japanese university students to be launched into space.
Tokyo University
will use its XI-1 satellite to test communication equipment and
solar battery function, while Tokyo Institute of Technology will
be running tests on its own communications equipment.
More than
10 students took part in the XI-1 project, from initial design
to assembly. "For students, practical experience is very
precious. They should take advantage of the opportunity to learn
systematic procedures," said Tokyo University Assistant Prof.
Shinichi Nakasuka, who advised the team. "In three years,
I want to develop the original satellite into a new, high-performance
one."
|
