The Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program is a series of spacecraft missions for testing technology and ideas put forward by universities and private companies. The program demonstrates various experimental devices and technology in space by providing flight opportunities. It is managed by the

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

Research and Development Directorate. According to JAXA, the goal of this program is to test high risk, innovative technology that will lead to the space industry gaining competitiveness in the international field.

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1

Artifacts at Tsukuba Space Center Space Dome exhibition hall 12

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 was the first mission in the Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program. The mission included several spacecraft, the largest being

RAPIS-1 RAPIS-1 (RAPid Innovative payload demonstration Satellite 1) is a satellite launched on 18 January 2019 which for over a year was used to test seven technology demonstration projects. RAPIS-1 was developed and operated by , under the coordinatio ...

, along with six smaller satellites. The call for proposals was announced in 2015, and selection results were announced in February 2016. A total of 14 projects were selected; however a proposal by

IHI Corporation , 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, turbocharge ...

, the "Demonstration experiment of an innovative ship information receiving system" was later dropped, dropping the number of projects reaching space to 13. Seven projects were tested on board RAPIS-1, either as parts or components. Three projects flew as microsatellites, and three more as

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. Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 was successfully launched on 18 January 2019. Payloads flown on the mission were tested in space for a year, and the operational data gained were given to the developers. The Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 marked the first multi-satellite launch by

Epsilon Epsilon (, ; uppercase , lowercase or ; ) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a mid front unrounded vowel or . In the system of Greek numerals it also has the value five. It was derived from the Phoenic ...

launch vehicle.

RAPIS-1

(RAPid Innovative payload demonstration Satellite 1) is a satellite within Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 that demonstrated selected projects as either parts or components. Of the 13 projects, 7 were demonstrated on board RAPIS-1.

Payload on RAPIS-1

* The NanoBridge based Field Programmable Gate Array (NBFPGA) was developed by

NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inter ...

* High data rate

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

Transmitter (HXTX) / X-band Middle Gain Antenna (XMGA) was developed by

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

* The Green Propellant Reaction Control System (GPRCS) was developed by

Japan Space Systems The was a Japanese space agency, which was founded by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1986. Unlike NASDA, ISAS, and NAL, it was not included in the JAXA organization, which was founded in 2003. The chairperson is Ichiro Ta ...

* The Space Particle Monitor (SPM) was developed by Japan Space Systems * The Deep Learning Attitude Sensor (DLAS) was developed by

Tokyo Institute of Technology The Tokyo Institute of Technology () was a public university in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. It merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University to form the Institute of Science Tokyo on 1 October 2024. The Tokyo Institute of Technology was a De ...

* The Thin Membrane Solar Array Paddle (TMSAP) was developed by JAXA * Fireant (Miniature Spaceborne GNSS Receiver) was developed by Chubu University

MicroDragon

MicroDragon is a

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

proposal submitted by Takashi Maeno of

. It was developed by the VNSC (Vietnam National Satellite Center).

RISESAT

Rapid International Scientific Experiment Satellite (RISESAT), previously called Hodoyoshi 2, was a microsatellite developed by

Tohoku University is a public research university in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. It is colloquially referred to as or . Established in 1907 as the third of the Imperial Universities, after the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, it initially focused on sc ...

. It was equipped with scientific instruments that were selected on an international scale. RISESAT was selected for the Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program to demonstrate highly precise attitude control and high resolution multispectral observation technology. RISESAT's high resolution multispectral camera was capable of measuring the growth rate and health of crops from space. RISESAT's

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

instrument, High Precision Telescope (HPT) utilizes a

liquid crystal tunable filter A liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) is an optical filter that uses electronically controlled liquid crystal Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. Fo ...

. RISESAT decayed from orbit on 14 March 2023.

ALE-1

ALE-1, also known as ALEe, was a microsatellite for demonstrating the creation of artificial

shooting star A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

s. Built and operated by ALE Co., Ltd., it was the company's first satellite. ALE-1 was equipped with a DOM2500

deorbit 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 entry ...

mechanism manufactured by Nakashimada Engineering Works, Ltd. The DOM2500 was a membrane sail large when deployed, and was used by ALE-1 to lower its altitude to less than , the optimal altitude to conduct its main mission. Once the satellite's altitude was sufficiently lowered, the DOM2500 was separated from ALE-1. The DOM2500 reentered the atmosphere on 3 August 2022, and ALE-1 is expected to re-enter the atmosphere in October 2023.

OrigamiSat-1

OrigamiSat-1 (COSPAR 2019-003B, SATCAT 43933) was a 3U

developed by

to demonstrate the deployment of large structures from a small, folded state. After being launched to an altitude of , OrigamiSat-1 was designed to descend down to , where it would deploy a 1m² membrane. The satellite decayed from orbit on 30 April 2022.

Aoba VELOX-IV

Aoba VELOX-IV was a 2U CubeSat equipped with a low-light camera. It was jointly developed by

Kyushu Institute of Technology The is one of the 87 national universities in Japan. Located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, it is dedicated to education and research in the fields of science and technology. It is earlier abbreviated to KIT and is now official ...

in Japan and

Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1981, it is also the second oldest autonomous university in the country. The university is organised across numerous colleges and schools, includi ...

(NTU) of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The pulsed plasma thrusters developed by NTU gave the CubeSat maneuvering capabilities, a necessity for a future lunar mission, as the Moon's irregular gravity field requires orbiters to perform orbit maintenance to extend its mission lifetime. It had a design lifetime of 12 months in low Earth orbit. The satellite decayed from orbit on 24 March 2023.

NEXUS

NEXUS, short for NExt generation X Unique Satellite is a 1U CubeSat developed by

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

. An

amateur radio satellite An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amate ...

, it is equipped with a transmitter with half the power consumption and a data transmission rate per second 32 times larger than a traditional amateur radio transmitter. NEXUS will demonstrate

packet radio In digital radio, packet radio is the application of packet switching techniques to digital radio communications. Packet radio uses a packet switching Communication protocol, protocol as opposed to circuit switching or message switching protocols ...

in space. The satellite decayed from orbit on 9 November 2023.

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-2

The call for proposals for Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-2, the second mission of the program, was announced in July 2018, and selection results were announced in December of the same year. There are nine satellites launching on this mission: the RAISE-2 smallsat, four microsatellites and four CubeSats. The microsatellites HIBARI, Z-Sat and

DRUMS The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

are primarily for engineering tests. TeikyoSat-4, which was additionally selected in 2020, will conduct life science studies. The four CubeSats are ASTERISC, ARICA,

NanoDragon NanoDragon is a 3U CubeSat built by the Vietnam National Satellite Center (VNSC). NanoDragon will use its automatic identification system (AIS) receiver to monitor vessels, and will also test the accuracy of its attitude control using an optic ...

, and KOSEN-1. The Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration 2 mission launched on 9 November 2021.

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-3

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-3's call for proposals was announced in January 2020, and in May 2020 JAXA announced the selection of 14 themes. On 22 January 2021,

Shizuoka University is a national university in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Shizuoka University is well known in the field of engineering, in creative innovation, and in the invention of next generation technology, with the prestigious international exchange o ...

's STARS-X microsatellite was additionally selected, bringing the total number of themes to 15. Among the 15 themes seven were on board the RAISE-3 smallsat, three are microsatellites and five were CubeSats. Of the three microsatellites, KOYOH will conduct astronomical observation of transient sources,

PETREL Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes. Description Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...

will demonstrate a multispectral camera, and STARS-X will extend a 1 km long

tether A tether is a cord, fixture, or flexible attachment that characteristically anchors something movable to something fixed; it also may be used to connect two movable objects, such as an item being towed by its tow. Applications for tethers incl ...

and collect

space debris Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in spaceprincipally in Earth orbitwhich no longer serve a useful function. These include dere ...

. For the CubeSats, MAGNARO was to demonstrate

formation flight Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

, MITSUBA was to test the degrading of

COTS COTS may refer to: * Commercial off-the-shelf, products that are commercially available and can be bought "as is" * Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, a NASA program for delivery to the International Space Station by private companies * ...

semiconductor parts, KOSEN-2 was to collect marine observation data, and WASEDA-SAT-ZERO was to demonstrate an integrated satellite chassis. On 19 April 2022, IHI Aerospace (IA), the manufacturer of Epsilon rocket announced that it signed a contract with iQPS for the launch of two satellites. IA said that the two satellites will be launched on the sixth launch of Epsilon. In a subsequent press release JAXA announced that the two iQPS satellites will be launched together with Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-3, and that the three microsatellites originally manifested for the flight (KOYOH, PETREL, and STARS-X) will instead be launched on another rocket, which will be arranged by IA. For IA, the contract with iQPS marked its first contract to launch a commercial satellite. IA was previously selected by JAXA as the launch service provider for

Epsilon S The Epsilon Launch Vehicle, or (formerly Advanced Solid Rocket), is a Japanese solid-fuel rocket designed to launch Science, scientific satellites. It is a follow-on project to the larger and more expensive M-V rocket which was retired in 2006 ...

, an upgraded version of Epsilon. IA described its contract with iQPS as a forerunner to commercial launches on Epsilon S.

Launches and results

The Epsilon rocket carrying Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-3's RAISE-3 and five CubeSats was launched on 12 October 2022. The launch resulted in failure and all the payloads and the launch vehicle were destroyed. KOYOH was launched successfully aboard SpaceX

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

rocket on 1 December 2023. Following the launch failure of the Epsilon rocket carrying RAISE-3 and the CubeSats selected for Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-3, each of the projects were given a re-flight opportunity in subsequent missions, except NEC Space Technologies, Ltd.'s SDRX, which declined the offer.

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4

The call for proposals for Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 was released by JAXA on 17 June 2022, and in September 2022 three

s, KOSEN-3, OrigamiSat-2 and Mono-Nikko were selected.

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-5

References

External links

Official website

Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1
- JAXA

MicroDragon Satellite Project

ORIGAMI PROJECT

ALE

AOBA VELOX-IV

{{Japanese space program Technology demonstration satellites JAXA