Kounotori 4, also known as HTV-4, was the fourth flight of the

H-II Transfer Vehicle The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), also called , is an Expendable launch system, expendable Japanese Cargo spacecraft, automated cargo spacecraft designed for International Space Station (ISS) resupply missions, particularly the Kibo (ISS module ...

, an uncrewed cargo spacecraft launched in August 2013 to resupply the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. It launched from

Tanegashima Space Center The (TNSC) is Japan's primary spaceport, covering approximately about . It is located on the southeastern tip of Tanegashima, the easternmost of the Ōsumi Islands, approximately south of the major island of Kyushu. The site was selected on ...

aboard

H-IIB H-IIB (H2B) was an expendable space launch system jointly developed by the Japanese government's space agency JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was used to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV, or ''Kōnotori'') cargo spacecraft for ...

No. 4 (H-IIB F4) rocket on 3 August 2013 and connected to ISS by 9 August 2013; it carried of cargo. Kounotori 4 undocked on 4 September 2013 and was destroyed by reentry on 7 September 2013.

Specifications

Major changes of Kounotori 4 from previous HTV are: * Although the previous

Kounotori 3 Kounotori 3 (; English: "white stork" ), also known as HTV-3, was the third flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. It was launched on 21 July 2012 to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 3 ...

used

reaction control system A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses Thrusters (spacecraft), thrusters to provide Spacecraft attitude control, attitude control and translation (physics), translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels can be used for at ...

(RCS) thrusters by

IHI Aerospace , formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbochargers ...

, Kounotori 4 uses the RCS manufactured by

Aerojet Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp, ...

, similar to

HTV-1 HTV-1, also known as the HTV Demonstration Flight or HTV Technical Demonstration Vehicle, was the first flight of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle, launched in September 2009 to resupply the International Space Station a ...

and

Kounotori 2 Kounotori 2 (こうのとり2号機, "white stork"), also known as HTV-2, was launched in January 2011 and was the second flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched by the H-I ...

. This will be the last Kounotori to use Aerojet parts, and future Kounotori are to use IHI's. * One of the

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s was replaced with a sensor module to measure the surface electrical potential when berthing to

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), ...

. * Continued improvement of ground operation to allow more late access cargo. * First time for Kounotori to reenter the atmosphere with unpressurized waste cargo (a NASA engineering experiment module STP-H3). * The orbital trajectory after departure from ISS is adjusted so that the reentry is to coincide with ISS passing over, to allow the

atmospheric entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entr ...

to be observed from ISS.

Cargo

Kounotori 4 carries about of cargo, consisting of in the pressurized compartment and in the unpressurized compartment. Pressurized cargo include: CANA (Cabin network system for Kibō), Stirling-Cycle Refrigerator (FROST), ISS Cryogenic Experiment Storage Box (ICE Box), i-Ball and Re-Entry Data Recorder (REDR), four

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

s: (

PicoDragon PicoDragon is a small satellite that followed the 1U type of CubeSat program built by the Vietnam National Satellite Center (VNSC) which belongs to VAST and operated in space for 3 months. It was the first product to be built in Vietnam in the ...

ArduSat-1 Ardusat () is a commune in western Maramureș County, Romania on the banks of the Someș River, near the border with Satu Mare County. The first record of its existence dates back to 1230. It is composed of three villages: Ardusat, Arieșu de Câ ...

, ArduSat-X, TechEdSat-3p), and the

Kirobo Kirobo is Japan's first robot astronaut, developed by University of Tokyo and Tomotaka Takahashi, to accompany Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. Kirobo arrived on the ISS on August 10, 2013, on JAXA ...

(robot companion for

Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and an astronaut working for Axiom Space. Wakata retired from JAXA in 2024 after a career in spaceflight spanning nearly two decades. He logged over 500 days in space across five missions: three aboard the Space Shuttle, ...

). Unpressurized cargo include: MBSU (Main Bus Switching Units) and UTA (Utility Transfer Assembly) which are ISS system spare parts, and a NASA experiment module STP-H4 (

Space Test Program The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Outline of space science, space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and De ...

- Houston 4).

Operation

Launch and rendezvous with ISS

Kounotori 4 was successfully launched atop a

carrier rocket flying from pad 2 of the

Yoshinobu Launch Complex Yoshinobu Launch Complex (abbreviated as LA-Y) is a List of rocket launch sites, rocket launch site at the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built for the H-II launch vehicle and ...

at 19:48:46 UTC on 3 August 2013. After 5.5 days of orbital manoeuvres, it arrived to Approach Initiation Point ( behind ISS) at 05:31 UTC, 9 August 2013, and started the final approach sequence at 08:05 UTC. The ISS's robotic arm

Canadarm2 The Mobile Servicing System (MSS) is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, suppo ...

grappled Kounotori 4 at 11:22 UTC, and fastened to ISS's

Common berthing mechanism The Common Mechanism (CBM) connects habitable elements in the US Orbital Segment (USOS) of the International Space Station (ISS). The CBM has two distinct sides that, once mated, form a cylindrical wiktionary:vestibule, vestibule between modules ...

(CBM) on 16:32 UTC. All berthing operations were completed at 18:38 UTC.

Operation while berthed to ISS

The ISS crew opened the hatch and entered to Pressurized Logistics Carrier (PLC) at 11:11 UTC, 10 August 2013.

Departure from ISS and reentry to Earth atmosphere

''Kounotori 4'' undocked from the ISS at 16:20 UTC, on 4 September 2013,

Karen Nyberg Karen LuJean Nyberg (born October 7, 1969) is an American mechanical engineer and retired NASA astronaut. Nyberg became the 50th woman in space on her first mission in 2008. Nyberg holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. She started her space c ...

then used the stations

to manoeuvre HTV-4 away from the

. Trajectory after the release was controlled so that the reentry coincides with ISS passing over to observe it. Japanese flight controllers have deorbited HTV-4 on 06:11 UTC, on 7 September 2013, and it reentered to the atmosphere around 06:37 UTC, on7 September 2013.

Notes

References

External links

HTV4 (Kounotori 4) Official page
(JAXA) * (JAXA channel) * (JAXA channel) * (JAXA channel)

Spaceflight101.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kounotori 4 Spacecraft launched in 2013 H-II Transfer Vehicles 2013 in Japan Spacecraft which reentered in 2013