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1\21 Japan - NASDA Rpt No 126 2002 DECEMBER
Part 1 of 5

Japan
NASDA Report
No.126 2002 DEC.

CONTENTS

H-IIA Rocket Flight No.4 Successfully Launched the MIDORI-II
(ADEOS-II). 

Front Line of Advanced and Common Technology Research 8 

Let Us Talk to Space Challengers 

H-IIA Rocket Flight No.4 Successfully Launched the MIDORI-II
(ADEOS-II).

14th December, ADEOS-II and three piggy back payloads entered orbit.


To the Sunsynchronous Orbit on H-IIA F4
---------------------------------------
From the satellite launches to the space station logistic support,
H-IIA rocket was developed to meet the diverse needs of Japan's space
transportation in the 21st century. In order to achieve the higher
reliability and lower cost than the previous vehicles, the systems
were simplified, parts numbers were reduced, and various test were
automated. As a result, the H-IIA achieved 8.5 billion yen launch
cost, which is about the half of its predecessor, the H-II. 

H-IIA rocket was successfully launched in August 2001 for the first
time. Since then, it has proven its reliability through the subsequent 
launch success of second and the third vehicles.

H-IIA Flight No.4 launched this time has aimed at injecting the
Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II (ADEOS-II) into the
sunsynchronous semi-recurrent orbit about 800km above the ground. It
also launched three piggyback satellites to make use of the excess
launch capability.


Smooth Countdown
----------------
On the planned launch date of December 12th 2002, the weather was
partly cloudy sky but almost no wind, a favorable condition for the
launch. 

The rocket launch requires preparations such as the loading of the
cryogenic fuel and the final check up of the control systems.
Therefore, its transportation from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) 
to the Launch Pad (LP) was begun previous night at 9:30 PM on 13th, 
which is 13 hours before the launch. 

After the work conducted throughout the night, the dawn of the launch
day came. 

At 270 seconds before the liftoff, automatic launch sequence was
initiated. The tank was pressurized to keep the steady flow of
propellant to the engine. External power was disengaged and the rocket 
started to run on its own internal battery. Safety devices for the 
command destruction system and the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB-As) were 
disengaged. Then at 4.7 seconds before the lift off, the fist stage 
main engine (LE-7A) was ignited. The rocket made the lift off at 10:31 
AM with glorious sound and noise. 


ADEOS-II nicknamed ''Midori-II''
--------------------------------
The rocket picked up speed after it left the launch pad, and it
experienced the severest aerodynamic force around 45 seconds after
liftoff. At that time, the altitude of the vehicle was about 10km
above the ground, and its speed was reaching 2,300km/hr. The vehicle
kept on picking up the speed, but the aerodynamic force was reduced as 
the atmosphere became thinner.

At 1 minutes 49 seconds after the liftoff, burnt out SRB-As were
separated. The faring to protect the satellites was separated at 4
minutes 24 seconds after lift off. From then on, the components were
separated one after another as they completed their functions in order 
to reduce the mass of the rocket. 

At 6 minutes and 38 seconds after liftoff, LE-7A main engine was shut
down as the vehicle detected the remaining propellant mass had
decreased as planned. 

In this flight, the rocket had gradually changed its course southward
in order to inject the payloads into sunsynchronous semi-recurrent
orbit, which runs through North-South direction. At the time of the
LE-7A cutoff, the vehicle was flying the direction almost straight to
South.

Following the LE-7A shut down, the entire first stage was separated to 
reduce the rocket's mass. Then, at 6 minutes 52 seconds after the lift 
off, the second stage engine (LE-5B) was ignited. The LE-5B engine 
smoothly accelerated the rocket, and it was shut down at 15 minutes 
and 41 seconds after lift off as it detected that the vehicle reached 
the planned 27,000km/hr velocity.

Finally, at 16 minutes and 32 seconds after lift off, ADEOS-II was
successfully injected into designated orbit. Its orbital elements were 
very close to the planned parameters. It was a good launch.  ADEOS-II 
was given a nickname ''MIDORI-II'' upon the orbit injection. 

Also, three piggyback satellites, Australian developed FedSAT, Whale
Ecology Observation Satellite (WEOS) developed by Chiba Institute of
Technology, and NASDA's own MicroLabSat (µ-LabSat) were given good
orbit injection. 

                            Planned         Resultant   Discrepancy
                             Value            Value
Orbit semi major axis (km)  7190 (+-20)       7190           0
 
Eccentricity                0.001 (0~0.004)  0.001           0
 
Orbit inclination (degree)  98.67 (+-0.25)   98.68         0.01
 
Orbit parameters of Midori-II derived from tracking data.



Front Line of Advanced and Common Technology Research 8

Efforts to Assure Space Qualified Parts,
a Key Element to Japan's Space Activity 
---------------------------------------

The manufacturing of spacecraft, including launch vehicles, requires
numerous parts. However, space development is such a specialized field 
that it is a difficult to assure the quality of each parts. In this 
issue of Front Line of Advanced and Common Technology Research, we 
will present the NASDA's efforts toward parts quality assurance. 

(continued)

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