A cutting-edge Japanese
satellite was hurled into orbit Saturday, beginning a mission to plant the
seeds for a space-based infrastructure to spread access to information in
remote corners of the Far East and Southeast Asia.
Built to help bring
broadband Internet services into underserved households and businesses, the
Wideband Internetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite will
reach both local markets in Japan and international centers across the
Asia-Pacific region.
"The purpose of WINDS
is to develop and demonstrate technology to establish the world's most advanced
information society," said Yasuo Nakamura, the mission's project manager.
The craft was driven into
space atop an H-2A rocket launched from the Yoshinobu complex on Tanegashima
Island at the southern end of the Japanese archipelago. The orange and white
launcher, fitted with two large solid rocket boosters and four smaller strap-on
motors, bolted into the sky at 0855 GMT (3:55 a.m. EST) Saturday.
Liftoff slipped to the end
of the day's window because of a boat in a downrange restricted zone and
persistent high winds that reached nearly 40 miles per hour. The gusts finally
died down enough for engineers to clear the rocket for flight shortly after sunset.
The rocket arced eastward
from Tanegashima, shedding its boosters and nose cone before its first stage
exhausted its supply of cryogenic propellant about six-and-a-half minutes after
liftoff. The H-2A's second stage fired twice to inject the WINDS payload into
its targeted orbit, and live video from the rocket showed spacecraft separation
at the 28-minute mark in the mission.
Nicknamed Kizuna, the
10,692-pound satellite was expected to be released in an orbit with a high
point of 22,354 miles and a low point of 155 miles. The geosynchronous transfer
orbit should have an inclination of 28.5 degrees, according to prelaunch
estimates.
Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency officials declared the launch a success after acquiring communications
signals from Kizuna.
The flight was delayed from
Feb. 15 to give technicians time to resolve a problem with an attitude control
thruster on the rocket's second stage. Officials ordered the replacement of a
faulty part before pressing ahead with final preparations.
Kizuna will use its own
propulsion module to gradually boost its orbit to an altitude of approximately
22,300 miles and reduce its inclination to zero degrees to enter geosynchronous
orbit, where the craft's velocity will match the speed of Earth's rotation. Kizuna
will be permanently parked above the equator at 143 degrees east longitude, or
above the Pacific Ocean north of New Guinea.
Built by Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries Ltd., the satellite will deploy its antennas and complete four
months of systems testing before its demonstrations begin in July.
The $484 million five-year
mission is the first step in a government-led demonstration of technologies
that could revolutionize Internet-based communications. JAXA is fronting most
of the mission's funding, with the National Institute of Information and
Communications Technology providing the remaining $56 million, according to a
JAXA spokesperson.
The name Kizuna, which
means "ties between people," was selected from suggestions submitted
by the public.
Kizuna features two
7.9-foot Ka-band dish reflectors attached to a multi-beam antenna designed to
serve locales across Asia. One dish will focus on nine regions in Japan, plus
parts of Korea, Beijing and Shanghai. Another reflector will reach a broader
swath of the Asia-Pacific.
Enhanced with a powerful
amplifier, the multi-beam antenna enables ultra-high-speed two-way
communications with data rates near 1.2 gigabytes per second for businesses
with ground antennas more than 15 feet in diameter. Four-foot ground antennas
can reach two-way communication speeds of 155 megabytes per second, according
to JAXA.
Individuals with 1.5-foot
antennas can also receive a sizable boost in communications speeds through
Kizuna. Those dishes will be able to receive information at a rate of 155
megabytes per second, faster than commercial fiber-optic networks.
JAXA officials say such
high-speed communications are difficult to achieve through conventional
satellites and small ground terminals. A cornerstone of Kizuna's mission is to
allow smaller dishes to attain communication rates previously reserved for
large and expensive ground antennas.
Ka-band frequencies are
typically hindered by rain, but Kizuna's multi-beam antenna can allocate its
power capacity to regions based on both weather conditions and real-time
demand. This provides a level of flexibility unmatched by most current
communications satellites, JAXA officials said.
"It will allocate
power efficiently by sending a stronger signal to a rainy region, and a weaker
signal to a sunny region," Nakamura said.
Kizuna also carries a
Ka-band phased array antenna with an arrangement of transmitters and receivers
capable of rapidly changing coverage zones to respond to demand.
The phased array antenna
will reach an area stretching from the central Pacific to India, opening up
one-third of the planet to Kizuna's communications experiments.
A switchboard-like device
aboard Kizuna can instantly route uplinked messages to their intended
destinations, a notable departure from most communications satellites that
require help from the ground.
Kizuna will begin
technology experiments in July with extensive testing of its communications
payload to assess its ability to support subsequent demonstrations. By October,
engineers expect to kick off a series of advanced experiments.
Controllers will attempt to
beam broadband Internet into homes in remote parts of Asia through simple and
inexpensive ground antennas to help bridge the digital divide between urban and
rural citizens.
"Although the Internet
is very popular in urban areas, connectivity is not yet sufficient in many
mountainous regions, on remote islands, or in Asian countries where the
communications infrastructure is not well developed," Nakamura said.
"(Kizuna) can make advanced high-speed communications available even in
such areas."
Officials will also test
the viability of the system for use in disasters that may dissolve terrestrial
networks. Kizuna's antennas will link up with small mobile stations and
demonstrate replacing a severed backbone Internet line to prove a
satellite-based communications system can step in if tragedy strikes.
"Even if communication
networks are disrupted and electricity lines are down, an Internet connection
can be easily set up anywhere," Nakamura said.
Kizuna will also
demonstrate multicasting between teachers and students in a distance learning
program. Multicasting using Kizuna will facilitate more interactive
communications among remote classes, according to Nakamura.
Kizuna will conduct 53
other experiments selected from private proposals for the remainder of its
mission.
"We'd like to explore
the entire potential of (Kizuna) as we ensure the success of all these
experiments," Nakamura said.
The next flight of the H-2A
rocket will launch GOSAT, a satellite to measure the amount of harmful
greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. That mission is scheduled for launch
this fall.
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