Birds-2 is the second iteration of a multinational program called the Joint Global Multi-Nations Birds Satellite project, or Birds project, to help countries build their first satellite. The Japanese

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 ...

(KIT) supported the design and fabrication of the satellites. The satellites were launched by the

Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Full Thrust (also known as Falcon 9 v1.2) is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle when reused and Heavy-lift launch vehicle when expended designed an ...

rocket as a part of the

SpaceX CRS-15 SpaceX CRS-15, also known as SpX-15, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station launched 29 June 2018 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission was contracted by NASA and flown by SpaceX. Launch In early 2015 ...

mission on 29 June 2018. The satellites were released from the Kibō module of 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 ...

(ISS) in August 2018.

Description

The Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

supports non-spacefaring countries to build their first satellite through a program called the Joint Global Multi-Nations Birds Satellite project (Birds). Five countries had their satellites successfully launched in the Birds-1 flight:

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Three countries participated in the Birds-2 program:

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

UiTMSAT-1 UiTMSAT-1 was a Malaysian nanosatellite, built primarily by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) as part of the multi-nation Birds-2 project. The 1U CubeSat was launched into space on 29 June 2018 and deployed from the International Space Station ...

was Malaysia's first university-built satellite. Bhutan's satellite,

BHUTAN-1 BHUTAN-1 was the first Bhutanese nanosatellite to be launched into space. The satellite was built during Kyushu Institute of Technology's Birds-2 program. The Birds program helps countries fly their first satellite. BHUTAN-1 was launched into ...

, was the country's first satellite. The Philippines built their first cubesat,

Maya-1 Maya-1 was a Filipino nanosatellite. It was developed under the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite program (PHL-Microsat) and was jointly implemented by the University of the Philippines and the Department of Science and ...

. All three satellites were built identically, and were designed to last 6–9 months. The satellites have camera systems for imaging the Earth.

Amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

operators can receive data transmitted from the satellites. Each country's receiving station can receive data from all three satellites with a

store and forward Store and forward is a telecommunications technique in which information is sent to an intermediate station where it is kept and sent at a later time to the final destination or to another intermediate station. The intermediate station, or node in ...

(S&F) system. The constellation was launched in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, lofted into space with their Falcon 9 rocket. It was the 15th launch of the Cargo Resupply Mission (CRS) contract to the

(ISS). Dragon was captured by

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 ...

and docked with the space station on 2 July 2018. The satellites were released from the Kibō module of the International Space Station in August 2018.

References

{{reflist Space program of Japan JAXA Spacecraft launched in 2018 CubeSats Satellites deployed from the International Space Station