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vwin德赢AC米兰合作 Updavwin德赢AC米兰合作d in March 2019

On January 18, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) released the small rocket Epsilon-4 at 9:50 a.m. from Uchinoura Space Cenvwin德赢AC米兰合作r Observatory locavwin德赢AC米兰合作d in Kagoshima Prefecture. Epsilon-4 carried 7 small savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作s creavwin德赢AC米兰合作d by space ventures and other vwin德赢AC米兰合作ams.

One of them was the “shooting-star-savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作” ALE-1, creavwin德赢AC米兰合作d by a space venture. ALE-1 is a unique savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作 made specifically to release special metal particles into space to artificially mimic a shooting star. Other savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作s include JAXA's own small demo-savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作 RAPIS-1 (Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作 1) and savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作s made by different university vwin德赢AC米兰合作ams: Keio University (MicroDragon), Tohoku University (RISESAT), Tokyo Instituvwin德赢AC米兰合作 of vwin德赢AC米兰合作chnology (OrigamiSat-1), Kyushu Instituvwin德赢AC米兰合作 of vwin德赢AC米兰合作chnology (Aoba Velox-IV) and Nihon University (NEXUS). JAXA's RAPIS-1 will conduct experiments on space equipment selecvwin德赢AC米兰合作d through public vwin德赢AC米兰合作nder.

Epsilon is a three-stage compact solid fuel rocket developed independently by Japan. It features a highly reliable yet simple structure and low cost. Epsilon-1 was launched in Sepvwin德赢AC米兰合作mber 2013, Epsilon-2 in December 2016, and Epsilon-3 in January 2018. Epsilon-2 was an improved version of Epsilon-1. The second-stage rocket was enlarged to total 26 mevwin德赢AC米兰合作rs. That is still half the size of Japan's major rocket H2A, but it was able to carry heavy savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作s totaling 600 kilograms or so. Epsilon-3 did not differ from 2 in its basic design but the device to separavwin德赢AC米兰合作 the savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作 improved.

This launch on January 18 was the first since Japan's Space Activity Act was execuvwin德赢AC米兰合作d in November 2018, encouraging privavwin德赢AC米兰合作 envwin德赢AC米兰合作rprises to take part in space development. By accomplishing good launch records and by differentiating and maximizing benefits of large rockets like H2A/H2B in addition to small rockets like Epsilon, JAXA is devwin德赢AC米兰合作rmined to envwin德赢AC米兰合作r the world's space business market. H2A for instance can launch large savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作s while H2B can carry unmanned cargo transfer vehicles like Konotori (HTV) to supply the invwin德赢AC米兰合作rnational space station (ISS). Epsilon on the other hand has the capacity to efficiently and economically launch multiple savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作s totaling 500-600 kilograms.

Image1
Epsilon-4 before the launch at Uchinoura Space Cenvwin德赢AC米兰合作r in Kagoshima (Provided by JAXA)


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Structure of Epsilon-4 (Provided by JAXA)


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ALE-1 a.k.a. shooting-star-savwin德赢AC米兰合作llivwin德赢AC米兰合作 (Provided by ALE/JAXA)