Launch Result of S-520-30 Sounding Rocket
September 11, 2015 (JST)
National Research and Development Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency （JAXA） launched the S-520-30 sounding rocket from the Uchinoura Space Center on September 11 (Fri.), 2015, with the objective of “clarifying the nucleation process of oxide-based cosmic dusts”.
The flight went smoothly, and the S-520-30 dropped into the south eastern ocean off Uchinoura.
| Sounding rocket | Launch time (Japan standard time) | Elevation angle | Observation start (when the nosecone opened) | Attitude control start by a small attitude control system | Highest altitude reached | Splashdown time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-520-30 | 8:00:00 p.m. | 78 degrees | 53 seconds after liftoff | 55 seconds after liftoff | 312 km (283 seconds after liftoff) |
550 seconds after liftoff |
The weather at the time of the launch was clear, the wind speed was 2.0 meters/second, and the temperature was 23.9 degrees Celsius.
With this experiment, the first sounding rocket experiment in Japan fiscal Year 2015 has been completed. We would like to express our profound appreciation to all related parties and personnel who have been cooperating with the launch of the S-520-30 sounding rocket.
| * | The JFY 2015 first sounding rocket experiment involves only one vehicle, S-520-30. |
|---|
<For your reference>
The experiment of the S-520-30 this time aims at clarifying the nucleation process of oxide-based cosmic dusts. We evaporated oxides under the micro-gravity environment by ballistic flight of the S-520-30, and directly measured the generation and growth process of oxide particles that were condensing after the evaporation. For the measurement, we use two kinds of equipment: a dual-wavelength interferometer (*1) and an on-site measurement instrument of floating dust infrared spectra (*2). More detailed analysis will be performed at each university.
| (*1) | An instrument to simultaneously measure temperature and density of gas with high precision and without any contact by taking advantage of the fact that refraction indices of each light wavelength are different in a transparent sample. |
|---|---|
| (*2) | Infrared spectrum is information that we can gain through studying lights in the infrared region of a celestial body. A small instrument was developed for this experiment to directly measure infrared spectra. |