Successful re-entry of H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI7” (HTV7)
November 11, 2018 (JST)
National Research and Development Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI7” (HTV7) successfully re-entered the atmosphere after the third de-orbit maneuver at 6:14 a.m. on November 11, 2018 (Japanese Standard Time, JST).
The “KOUNOTORI7” has successfully accomplished its main objective to ship cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
The estimated date/time of “KOUNOTORI7” re-entry and splashdown are as follows (Japanese Standard Time, JST):
| Estimated re-entry*1: | November 11, 2018 / 06:38 a.m. |
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| Estimated splashdown*2: | November 11, 2018 / 06:48 a.m.～07:12 a.m. |
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*1: Altitude at 120 km *2: Splashdown results of the HTV Small Re-entry Capsule will be announced on the JAXA homepage. |
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Reference link: For more details, please refer to the following website:
JAXA's President, Hiroshi Yamakawa Address
H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI7 Mission Completion
Today, I would like to announce that the H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI7” (HTV7) has successfully completed its de-orbit maneuver and re-entered the atmosphere as planned.
After successfully docking to the ISS on September 28, 2018, “KOUNOTORI7” had stayed aboard the ISS for approximately 41days. While docked, resupply items and utilization cargo which are inevitable for ISS operations were transferred to the ISS, and after being loaded with trash material, the “KOUNOTORI7” had successfully re-entered the Earth atmosphere today. This marked the seventh consecutive mission success.
“KOUNOTORI”, with its world’s largest resupply capability to the ISS, owes a substantial role on the sustaining of ISS operations as a logistics vehicle. “KOUNOTORI7” became the heaviest resupply mission, carrying a total of approximately 6.2 tons of cargo. This includes the new ISS batteries using Japanese Lithium-Ion batteries, large experiment racks provided by U.S. and Europe, which are all large cargos that could only be transferred to the ISS by the “KOUNOTORI”.
“KOUNOTORI7” had carried 3 CubeSats that were successfully deployed from the ISS and an experiment system which is currently being tested outside the “KIBO” to demonstrate highly efficient heat dissipation technology which is planned to be used on JAXA’s Engineering Test Satellite-9 (ETS9).
In addition, fresh food from various prefectures in Japan such as Hokkaido, Miyagi, Okayama, Ehime and Saga were brought to the ISS kept fresh, although the launch of “KOUNOTORI7” was delayed for approximately 2 weeks.
Momentarily, we will be recovering the HTV Small Re-entry Capsule after its splashdown in the ocean. Towards the goal to acquire Japan’s first cargo recovery capacity from the ISS, the Small Re-entry Capsule will be demonstrating its guided lift flight capabilities that will enable the capsule to descent under reduced G-forces, as well as its heat protection capability of the ablator while its re-entry into the atmosphere. We expect that these efforts will lead to securing flexibility in our future space flight activities.
Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation to all of the organizations concerned, both domestic and overseas and to the people of Japan, as well as the extended support on the HTV Small Re-entry Capsule technical demonstration mission.
November 11, 2018
Hiroshi Yamakawa
President
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Contacts:
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Public Affairs Department
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Tel. +81-50-3362-4374
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