Second stage sail deployment is scheduled to take place tomorrow...while IKAROS completed the full first stage deployment today

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/

Believe it or not, the Guardian is correct.

IKAROS will deploy a small free-floating camera once its solar sail completely deploys (which hopefully already happened) to photograph the spacecraft in all her diamond-shaped (or square-shaped, depending on your POV) beauty... I gotta check online to see if it has a second camera onboard that it could deploy once it reaches Venus.

To have a wide shot of IKAROS in deep space, with Venus in the background would be one of the coolest space images, ever.

Sail Deployment Schedule for IKAROS

(SUCCESSFUL) June 2 (Wednesday) evening - midnight: pre-deployment check sail (motor and commissioning)

(SUCCESSFUL) June 3 (Thursday) evening - the night: the early development of first stage sail deployment

(SUCCESSFUL) June 4 (Friday) evening - midnight: Day 2 Official first stage sail deployment

June 08 (Tuesday) evening - midnight: Day 3 Official second (and final) stage sail deployment

Tuesday, June 09 (Wednesday) evening - midnight: Review of second stage sail deployment

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/

I'm a month late, but did anyone here already point out that Elon Musk made an appearance in the movie "Iron Man 2"?

I thought that was pretty cool.

I would assume that the secondary payload they're referring to is IKAROS; three of the four minisats are stuck in Earth orbit...and I don't think UNITEC-1 has any onboard propellant that would allow it to change course once it reached Venus.

Kudos to SpaceX for the successful launch of Falcon 9!! A little late in posting this, I know

More images taken by IKAROS. Official first stage sail deployment begins tomorrow

High Gain Antenna for the Curiosity rover is en route to JPL

http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=525858649

New images taken by IKAROS...showing the four tip masses that are on each outer tip of the solar sail have successfully separated from the spacecraft

http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/ikaros_channel/bn004.html

As an FYI, three of those four tip masses contain many aluminum plates engraved with the names of 63,248 people. These names were submitted online as part of a public outreach effort by JAXA between December 2009 and March 22 of this year.

IKAROS Update:

-IKAROS is 2,266,103 miles (3,646,160 km) from Earth as of today

-the spacecraft is currently spinning at 20 rpm...will increase to 25 rpm by tomorrow before the solar sail finally begins full deployment this week

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/

I'm reading elsewhere that radio contact has been lost with 3 of the 4 minisats...only Negai☆ is operating normally. That's unfortunate to hear.

IKAROS moves to Verification Experiment Phase

May 24, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) completed the initial
operation check of the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator "IKAROS,"
which was launched on May 21, 2010 (Japan Standard Time,) from the
Tanegashima Space Center.

We will take a few weeks to carry out the first verification
experiments, namely deployment of the solar sail and solar power
generation by thin film solar cells.


This page URL:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/05/20100524_ikaros_e.html

Long-Silent Mars Lander is Broken and Dead, Photos Show

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/phoen...oto-100524.html

MRO images show that the solar panels on Phoenix were damaged by a heavy coating of dust and ice during the Martian winter, as predicted.

Oh, and tomorrow marks the 2-year anniversary since Phoenix successfully landed on the Red Planet

'First Light' images taken of Earth with Akatsuki's LIR, UVI and IR1 instruments

Initial Operation Result of
the Venus Climate Orbiter 'AKATSUKI'

May 21, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)


The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received the signal transmitted from the Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" at the Uchinoura Space Center at 4:40 p.m. on May 21, 2010 (Japan Standard Time, JST), and confirmed that the scheduled sequence of events including the solar array paddle deployment and sun acquisition were successfully performed.

The AKATSUKI was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center at 6:58:22 a.m. on May 21, 2010 (JST)

The orbiter is currently in a healthy state.

We are preparing for the AKATSUKI injection into the Venus orbit in early December while checking functions of the onboard equipment and controlling the attitude and orbit.

We would like to express our profound appreciation for the cooperation and support of all related personnel and organizations that helped contribute to the successful launch and tracking and control operations of the AKATSUKI.

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/05/20100521_akatsuki_e.html


The Operation Status of
the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator 'IKAROS'

May 22, 2010 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) acquired the signal transmitted from the IKAROS at the Usuda Deep Space Station and confirmed its solar power generation and stable posture, and established communications. We will turn on onboard devices one by one.

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/05/20100522_ikaros_e.html

Looks like NASA is planning to launch MSL between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?rele...elease_2010-171

Congrats to JAXA for the successful launch of Akatsuki and IKAROS (plus those 4 smaller satellites)!

H-2A at the pad once more..

NEW LAUNCH DATE SET: May 21 at 6:58:22 AM, Japan Time (May 20, 5:58:22 PM, EDT...or 21:58:22 UTC)

http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f17/topics_e.html

The weather at Tanegashima probably won't be ideal for launch till May 25 (Tuesday). Darn.

Weather forecast to be bleak for pretty much this entire week. Akatsuki / IKAROS have till June 3 to get off the ground.

A pre-dawn image of H-2A at Launch Pad 1

Photos showing the H-2A rocket rolling out to the launch pad

Speaking of December 1993, here are three photos I took of the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (which was installed during the HST servicing mission that year) at the JPL Open House today

Better-quality photos of the VAB move are up

http://www.stp.isas.jaxa.jp/venus/