SOCRATES (satellite)

Last updated
SOCRATES
Mission typeTechnology demonstrator
OperatorNICT [1]
COSPAR ID 2014-029C OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
SATCAT no. 39768
Website Official page (Japanese)
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerAdvanced Engineering Services Co., Ltd. [1]
Launch mass48 kg (106 lb)
Dimensions496 mm × 495 mm × 485 mm (19.5 in × 19.5 in × 19.1 in)
Power120W
Start of mission
Launch date24 May 2014;9 years ago (2014-05-24)
Rocket H-IIA 202
Launch site Tanegashima, LA-Y
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Sun Synchronous
Eccentricity 0.0013
Perigee altitude 629.8 km
Apogee altitude 647.4 km
Inclination 97.9 
Period 97.5 min
 

SOCRATES or Space Optical Communications Research Advanced Technology Satellite is a Japanese small satellite launched in 2014. The satellite is purely a technology demonstrator designed by NICT intended to help AES company to gain experience in basic mission control, attitude control and spacecraft communications. Its main experiment is SOTA (Small Optical TrAnsponder), an optical small satellite communications demonstrator. [2] All subsystems of spacecraft are powered by solar cells mounted on spacecraft body and stub wings, with estimated electrical power of 120W BOL degrading to 100W EOL. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

SOTA was the first lasercom on board a microsatellite, performing a variety of experiments in a less-than-6 kg compact package, being the main one the 10 Mbit/s links at 1549 nm using coarse and fine-pointing to accurately transmit the 35-mW laser through a 5-cm Cassegrain telescope. [5] SOTA had other additional capabilities, i.e. B92-like QKD protocol at 800-nm band to perform the first-time quantum-limited demonstration from space. [6]

Launch

SOCRATES was launched from Tanegashima, Japan, on 24 May 2014 at 03:05:00 UTC by an H-IIA 202. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

SCISAT-1 is a Canadian satellite designed to make observations of the Earth's atmosphere. Its main instruments are an optical Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, the ACE-FTS Instrument, and an ultraviolet spectrophotometer, MAESTRO. These devices record spectra of the Sun, as sunlight passes through the Earth's atmosphere, making analyses of the chemical elements of the atmosphere possible.

RAIKO is a Japanese satellite which was built and operated by Tohoku and Wakayama Universities. A two-unit CubeSat, RAIKO was deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 4 October 2012, having been launched on 21 July 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Small satellite</span> Satellites of low mass and size, usually under 500 kg

A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under 1,200 kg (2,600 lb). While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites can be built small to reduce the large economic cost of launch vehicles and the costs associated with construction. Miniature satellites, especially in large numbers, may be more useful than fewer, larger ones for some purposes – for example, gathering of scientific data and radio relay. Technical challenges in the construction of small satellites may include the lack of sufficient power storage or of room for a propulsion system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SBS 4</span>

SBS 4 was a geostationary communications satellite designed and manufactured by Hughes on the HS-376 platform. It was ordered by Satellite Business Systems, which later sold it to Hughes Communications. It had a Ku band payload and operated at 94°W longitude.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TacSat-2</span> US military satellite

TacSat-2 is the first in a series of U.S. military experimental technology and communication satellites.TacSat-2 (also known as JWS-D1 was an experimental satellite built by the USAF's Air Force Research Laboratory with an operational life expected to be not more than one year as part of the "Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration" program.

The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a directorate of the Space and Missile Systems Center of the United States Space Force. STP provides spaceflight via the International Space Station (ISS), piggybacks, secondary payloads and dedicated launch services.

MightySat-2.1, also known as P99-1 or Sindri was a small spacecraft developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory to test advanced technologies in imaging, communications, and spacecraft bus components in space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosmos 97</span>

Kosmos 97, also known as DS-U2-M No.1, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1965 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 267 kilograms (589 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and used to conduct tests involving atomic clocks.

Lewis was an American satellite which was to have been operated by NASA as part of the Small Satellite Technology Initiative. It carried two experimental Earth imaging instruments, and an ultraviolet astronomy payload. Due to a design flaw it failed within three days of reaching orbit, before it became operational.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanoracks</span> Private space hardware and services company

Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services company which builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools. The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cygnus Orb-3</span> Failed resupply spaceflight to the ISS (2014)

Orbital-3, also known as Orb-3, was an attempted flight of Cygnus, an automated cargo spacecraft developed by United States-based company Orbital Sciences, on 28 October 2014. The mission was intended to launch at 22:22:38 UTC that evening. This flight, which would have been its fourth to the International Space Station and the fifth of an Antares launch vehicle, resulted in the Antares rocket exploding seconds after liftoff.

Kosmos 13 or Zenit-2 No.9 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1963. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 13 was the eighth of eighty-one such satellites to be launched.

Kosmos 15 or Zenit-2 No.9 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite which was launched in 1963. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 15 was the ninth of eighty-one such satellites to be launched.

Kosmos 99 or Zenit-2 No.32 was a Soviet, first generation, low resolution, optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1965. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 99 was the thirty-second of eighty-one such satellites to be launched and had a mass of 4,730 kilograms (10,430 lb).

Kosmos 104 or Zenit-2 No.36 was a Soviet first-generation low-resolution optical film–return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1966. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 104 was the thirty-second of eighty-one such satellites to be launched and had a mass of 4,730 kilograms (10,430 lb).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser communication in space</span> Communication using lasers in outer space

Laser communication in space is the use of free-space optical communication in outer space. Communication may be fully in space or in a ground-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground application. The main advantage of using laser communications over radio waves is increased bandwidth, enabling the transfer of more data in less time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Progress MS-02</span> 2016 Russian resupply spaceflight to the ISS

Progress MS-02, identified by NASA as Progress 63P, was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016. It was launched to deliver cargo to the ISS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RemoveDEBRIS</span>

RemoveDEBRIS was a satellite research project intending to demonstrate various space debris removal technologies. The mission was led by the Surrey Space Centre from the University of Surrey with the satellite's platform manufactured by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). Partners on the project included Airbus, ArianeGroup, Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, Inria, Innovative Solutions In Space, Surrey Space Centre, and Stellenbosch University.

NASA's Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator (PTD) Project is a series of tech demonstrations of technologies aboard a series of nanosatellites known as CubeSats, providing significant enhancements to the performance of these versatile spacecraft. Each of the five planned PTD missions consist of a 6-unit (6U) CubeSat with expandable solar arrays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental Research Satellite</span> Family of artificial satellites launched in the 1960s run by the USAF

The Environmental Research Satellite program was a series of small satellites initially operated by the United States Air Force Office of Aerospace Research. Designed to be launched "piggyback" to other satellites during launch, detaching once in orbit, they were the smallest satellites launched to date—what would today be classified as microsatellites. 33 ERS satellites in six different series were launched between 1962 and 1971, conducting scientific research and serving as test beds to investigate the reliability of new spacecraft components.

References

  1. 1 2 "SOCRATES (Space Optical Communications Research Advanced Technology Satellite)".
  2. 1 2 "SOCRATES". eoPortal Directory. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  3. Krebs, Gunter Dirk (2016-04-21). "SOCRATES". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  4. "SOCRATES". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  5. Carrasco-Casado, Alberto; Takenaka, Hideki; Kolev, Dimitar; Munemasa, Yasushi; Kunimori, Hiroo; Suzuki, Kenji; Fuse, Tetsuharu; Kubo-Oka, Toshihiro; Akioka, Maki; Koyama, Yoshisada; Toyoshima, Morio (October 2017). "Acta Astronautica "LEO-to-ground optical communications using SOTA (Small Optical TrAnsponder) – Payload verification results and experiments on space quantum communications"". Acta Astronautica. 139: 377–384. arXiv: 1708.01592 . doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.07.030. S2CID   115327702 . Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  6. "Satellite-to-ground quantum-limited communication using a 50-kg-class microsatellite". Nature. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  7. "SOCRATES". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-04.