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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."
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