Nano-JASMINE

Nano-JASMINE (Nano-Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration) is a 35 kg astrometric microsatellite developed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The satellite is scheduled to be lanched August 2011 into a sun-synchronous orbit.

Overview

Nano-JASMINE is Japan's first astrometric satellite and is anticipated to be the world's second astrometric satellite, the first being Hipparcos, launched in 1989 by the European Space Agency. It is the first of a planned series of three satellites of increasing size: Nano-JASMINE, Small-JASMINE, and JASMINE. The satellite observes in the infrared, allowing for better observation towards the center of the Galaxy, and has a small, 5 centimeter primary mirror.^[1]

The satellite should measure positions with accuracy comparable to Hipparcos, but should be useful to determine the positions of stars whose current positions are poorly known owing to uncertainty in their motion since their previous measurement by Hipparcos. In addition, combining nano-JASMINE data with Hipparcos data should enable the determination of more accurate proper motions.^[2]

The development cost of the satellite is approximately 100 million yen. It is scheduled to be lanched in August 2011 by a Tsyklon-4 rocket from the Brazilian Space Agency's launch site in Alcantara, Brazil. The launch has been provided free of charge.^[2]

Nano-Jasmine will incorporate the use of star-image extraction (SIE) to cut-down on the amount data sent.^[3]

References

1. ^ (Japanese) "日本初の位置天文観測衛星「ナノジャスミン」、2011年8月打ち上げ", AstroArts. Accessed on line September 27, 2010.
2. ^ ^{a b} (Japanese) "日本初の位置天文学衛星「Nano-JASMINE」 - 2011年の打ち上げが正式決定", マイコミジャーナル. Accessed on line September 27, 2010.
3. ^ Wenjing Jin, Imants Platais, Michael A. C. Perryman - A giant step, from milli- to micro-arcsecond astrometry - Page 294 (Google Books 2010)

External links

• JASMINE Home Page
• Space Astrometry Mission by Micro Satellite "Nano-JASMINE"