Feb 23 1977
From The Space Library
February 23-27: Japan's Natl. Space Development Agency announced launch Feb. 22 of its engineering test satellite ETS-II from the space center at Tanegashima at 5:50 local time (0850 GMT) on a 3-stage 32.5m N rocket developed with the help of U.S. technology. The rocket weighed about 90 tons and had a thrust of 148 tons at liftoff.
The satellite, a 1.41m-diameter cylinder 93cm long, carried a transmitter/receiver and five small rockets for attitude control, orbital shift, and speed adjustment. At about 6:45 pm local time, the satellite (called Kiku 2 in orbit) reached an elliptical transfer orbit with 191km perigee and apogee of about 36 000km, the altitude at which it would go into synchronous orbit within a few days. Its synchronous station would be. at 130°E over Indonesia, the announcement said. This was the third satellite orbited by the agency and the tenth by Japan. (FBIS, Tokyo Kyodo in English, Feb 23/77; NYT, Feb 25/77, A7; CSM, Feb 24/77, 2)
NSDA officials announced Feb. 25 that Kiku 2 would change orbit a day early, on its seventh pass over the Indian Ocean, as data from tracking stations in Japan and on Christmas Is. had confirmed its success in elliptical orbit. The satellite would reach station by March 5 if all went well, the announcement said. (FBIS, Tokyo Kyodo in English, Feb 25/77)
The NY Times carried a Feb. 26 item from Associated Press confirming that "Japan's first experimental stationary satellite" had shifted to a circular orbit. (NYT, Feb 27/77, 7)
NSDA announced Feb. 27 that Kiku 2's apogee motor ignited at 2:32 pm local time on Feb. 26 to move the satellite from an elliptical to a circular orbit with apogee of 35 756km and perigee of 34 034km, close to preflight predictions and fast enough to permit drift to its permanent station over Indonesia at 35 800km altitude. (FBIS, Tokyo Kyodo in English, Feb 27/77)
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