Epsilon rocket carrying "Made by Vietnam" satellite ready to enter orbit
At 7:50 a.m. (Hanoi time) on January 17, the Epsilon rocket carrying 7 satellites, including Vietnam's MicroDragon, was launched into orbit in Japan.
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| The Epsilon No. 4 rocket carries 7 technology test satellites, including: JAXA's small satellite (RAPIS-1, 200 kg); 3 micro satellites (RISESAT (60 kg) of Tohoku University, MicroDragon (50 kg) of Vietnam, ALE-1 (68 kg) of ALE company and 3 cubesat satellites (OrigamiSat-1 3U, 4 kg) of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Aoba VELOX-IV (2U, 3 kg) of Kyushu Institute of Technology and NEXUS (1U, 1 kg) of Nihon University. The rocket will launch at Uchinoura Space Center, Japan. |
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| Epsilon is a Japanese solid-fuel rocket developed from the MV rocket to reduce launch costs. The rocket is 24 m long, weighs 91 tons, and is capable of sending small satellites weighing less than 1 ton to low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of about 500 km. Epsilon began launching in 2013, this is the fourth launch of this rocket. |
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| Satellites are weighed and checked for center of gravity before being installed on the rocket. |
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| Scientists test the satellite's ability to withstand centrifugal force when the rocket rotates (up to 360 degrees/second). |
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| ... and simulated the process of changing the satellite's attitude as it prepared to be released into space. |
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| JAXA engineers are testing the satellite on the rocket mounting kit. The Vietnamese engineering team that participated in the satellite design returned to Japan on January 10 to practice and prepare the operation plan and analyze the satellite's image data. |
