Japan to launch solar sail spacecraft May 18

[bananas]

You can have a message sent with it:

http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/ikaros_cam/e/05.html

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and The Planetary Society (TPS) will launch the mission support campaign together for IKAROS and LightSail-1.

In this campaign, we will accept your names and messages both from Japan and overseas and carry them on IKAROS and Light-1Sail.
...
We need to receive it by March 14, 2010 (Japan Standard Time)
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edit to add: or use the form at The Planetary Society: http://planetary.org/special/fromearth/sail

http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/ikaros/index_e.html

March 3, 2010 Updated

"IKAROS" launch date set! "AKATSUKI" Special site open

The launch time and day of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 17 (H-IIA F17) has been set for 6:44:14 a.m. on May 18. The H-IIA will carry the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI," the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator "IKAROS," and four other small satellites to space.

The AKATSUKI special website opens today to keep you updated about its preparation status before its arrival to the Venus orbit. Please enjoy the site.

JAXA is currently holding a message campaign to ask your support for the mission.Your messages will be attached to the IKAROS and LightSail-1 to travel in space. We can accept your message till March 14, 2010 (Japan Standard Time.)

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http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=11604

Novel Technologies Aboard the IKAROS Sail
by Administrator on March 8, 2010

Not long ago we looked at IKAROS, an interesting solar sail concept out of JAXA, the Japanese space agency. Osamu Mori, project leader for the sail mission, offers up further background in an interview available at the JAXA site. IKAROS is notable because rather than relying solely on photons for propulsion, it would use solar cells covering part of the sail to generate electricity. In addition, the sail will operate with a unique attitude-control system. Here’s what Osamu Mori says about the latter:

The solar-powered attitude-control system uses a technology that controls the reflectivity of the sail. It works just like frosted glass: normally, the entire area of the sail will reflect sunlight, but by “frosting” part of the film, we can reduce the reflectivity of that area. When the reflectivity is reduced, that part of the sail generates less solar power. So by changing the reflectivity of the left and right sides of the sail, we can control its attitude.

Interesting stuff, and it fits into a broader context when you think about it in terms of a Jupiter mission. IKAROS is actually meant to be a technology demonstrator for evaluating solar sail performance in interplanetary flight. It will carry an ion engine along with the solar sail because at the distance of Jupiter, solar cells will provide only four percent of the efficiency they would offer near Earth. Japan’s intention is to go to Jupiter using solar cells, so both the ion engine and sail reflectivity adjustments can be seen as ways of stretching a known technology to see what is functional at these distances.

Not that there is any intention of going for Jupiter with the first mission. JAXA has been running vibration and thermal vacuum tests to shake out the systems of a small sail, no more than 14 meters to the side, made of polyimide resin some 7.5 micrometers thick (by comparison, a human hair is about 100 micrometers thick). Rather than Jupiter, the demonstrator will be launched along with the Venus Climate Orbiter AKATSUKI, deploying its sail a month after launch. Passing by Venus, IKAROS will navigate around the Sun as its systems are tested.

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Via http://hobbyspace.com/nucleus/?itemid=19164

[hatrack]

1. Very cool - interesting!

Thanks for posting!