Arase (satellite)

Arase
Artistic rendering of Arase in orbit.
Mission typeEarth observation
OperatorJAXA
COSPAR ID2016-080A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.41896
Mission duration7 years, 10 months and 22 days (elapsed)
Spacecraft properties
BusSPRINT
Launch mass~350 kg
Power≧700 W
Start of mission
Launch date11:00:00, December 20, 2016 (UTC) (2016-12-20T11:00:00Z)
RocketEpsilon
Launch siteUchinoura
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
Perigee altitude~460 km
Apogee altitude~32110 km
Inclination~31 degrees [1]
Period~565 minutes
Instruments
  • Extremely high-energy electron sensor (XEP-e)
  • High-energy particle sensor – electron (HEP-e)
  • Medium-energy particle sensor – electron (MEP-e)
  • Low-energy particle sensor – electron (LEP-e)
  • Medium-energy particle – ion (MEP-i)
  • Low-energy particle – ion (LEP-i)
  • Magnetic Field Experiment (MGF)
  • Plasma Wave Experiment (PWE)
  • Software Wave-Particle Interaction Analyzer (S-WPIA)

Arase, formerly known as Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG), is a scientific satellite to study the Van Allen belts. It was developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of JAXA. While there was a scientist working on a similar project with the surname Arase, the satellite's name has nothing to do with him but instead named after a river beside the launch point.

It was launched aboard Epsilon launch vehicle at 11:00:00, 20 December 2016 UTC into apogee height 32250 km, perigee 214 km orbit. Subsequent perigee-up operation moved its orbit to apogee 32110 km, perigee 460 km of 565 minutes period.[2]

  1. ^ "Arase (ERG) Geospace Probe - JAXA". JAXA. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
  2. ^ ジオスペース探査衛星「あらせ」（ERG）の軌道変更運用（近地点高度上昇）の完了について (in Japanese). JAXA. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.