May 30 2003
From The Space Library
Japan's Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System (USERS) capsule splashed down 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo, Japan, near the Ogasawara Islands, while the USERS Service Module continued to orbit Earth. Japan's NASDA had launched the system aboard an H - 2A booster from the Tanegashima Space Center in September 2002, along with a Japanese Data Relay Test Satellite. The capsule contained a superconductive product, created within the capsule during its 10 months in space, using an electrically heated furnace. Japanese researchers were investigating contamination-free, high-quality crystals, created in a microgravity environment, for their potential use in the superconductive magnets needed in flywheel-type, electric-energy storage systems and magnetically levitated train transportation. Scientists planned to collect data from the USERS Service Module to use in the design and production of future satellite hardware. The Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, a group established in 1986 to promote the industrialization of space, had initiated the USERS project. (Leonard David, “Japan Recovers Capsule That Carried Made-in-Space Product,” Space.com, 29 May 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/japan_capsule_030529.html (accessed 4 December 2008).
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