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MDS-1

Mission Demonstration Satellite 1 (MDS-1) or Tsubasa was a Japanese technology test mission. It was launched by the second H-2A on February 4, 2002 from the Tanegashima Space Center. After the launch, MDS-1 was renamed Tsubasa, meaning wings in Japanese. Tsubasa was placed in a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). It ended its operational phase on 26 February 2003. A similar mission, MDS-2, was cancelled.

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Mission Demonstration Satellite 1 (MDS-1) or Tsubasa (COSPAR 2002-003A, SATCAT 27367) was a Japanese technology test mission. It was launched by the second H-2A on February 4, 2002 from the Tanegashima Space Center. After the launch, MDS-1 was renamed Tsubasa, meaning wings in Japanese.1 Tsubasa was placed in a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). It ended its operational phase on 26 February 2003.2 A similar mission, MDS-2, was cancelled.3

The purpose of the mission was to test the performance of commercial off-the-shelf components, including solar batteries, semiconductors and computers.12 MDS-1 also carried instrumentation to observe how changes in the environment as the satellite passed through the Van Allen radiation belts affected the performance of each component. Among these instruments were a dosimeter using radiation-sensitive field effect transistors,4 a magnetometer, and a device for tracking heavy ions.5 During the mission, MDS-1 tracked the occurrence of single event upsets (SEU), finding the majority occurred while passing the inner belt during solar maximum and were likely caused by high energy protons.6 The whole weight of the satellite was 480 kg.1

References

References

  1. "MDS-1 – NSSDC Master Catalog". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NSSDC. Retrieved 7 January 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. "JAXA | Mission Demonstration test Satellite-1 "TSUBASA" (MDS-1)". jaxa.jp. JAXA. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  3. "MDS 2". space.skyrocket.de. Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  4. Kimoto, Y.; Koshiishi, H.; Matsumoto, H.; Goka, T. (December 2003). "Total dose orbital data by dosimeter onboard tsubasa (mds-1) satellite". IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. 50 (6): 2301–2306. Bibcode:2003ITNS...50.2301K. doi:10.1109/TNS.2003.821399.
  5. Koshiishi, H.; Matsumoto, H.; Kimoto, Y.; Liu, H.; Goka, T. (2002). "Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment Board Mission Demonstration Test Satellite-1". COSPAR Colloqui Series. COSPAR Colloquia Series. 14: 369–371. doi:10.1016/S0964-2749(02)80184-6. ISBN 9780080441108.
  6. Koshiishi, H.; Matsumoto, H.; Goka, T. (November 2008). "Single-event upset in geostationary transfer orbit during solar-activity maximum period measured by the Tsubasa satellite". Advances in Space Research. 42 (9): 1500–1503. Bibcode:2008AdSpR..42.1500K. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2007.11.026.