The Status of the Kirari, Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS)

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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The Status of the Kirari, Optical Inter-orbit Communications
Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS)

November 25, 2005
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

At 12:13 on November 24 (Japan Standard Time, JST), JAXA found that
one of the four reaction wheels was disconnected from the onboard
attitude control system of the Kirari, Optical Inter-orbit
Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS) when JAXA's Okinawa
Tracking and Communication Station received telemetry from the
satellite. The Kirari was launched by a Dnepr Launch Vehicle from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan on August 24,
2005 (JST), and is now under initial function verification.

The Kirari is currently flying normally as it is designed with a
redundant system that enables the satellite to control its attitude if
one of the four reaction wheels is disconnected.

The optical inter-orbit communications experiment with the Advanced
Relay and Technology Mission "ARTEMIS" of the European Space Agency
(ESA) is scheduled in early December.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info