FAILURE: Space One KAIROS LV first launch - March 13, 2024 (02:01 UTC)

[Galactic Penguin SST]

After months of no news, Space One now came out with a launch date AND time for their rocket's first launch (window is 02:00 - 03:00 UTC, March 9): https://www.space-one.co.jp/news/news_20240126.pdf

Main Topic on Space One and KAIROS

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Looks like they are also finally starting to build up some social media presence - see https://wakayama-rocket.com for details.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Payload is indeed (as speculated earlier in the other thread) a prototype "quick response" satellite for the Japanese government Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, who also operates the IGS series: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/houdou/pdf/241026sate.pdf

[Steven Pietrobon]

Is the satellite name 短期打上型小衛星 (Tenshi Uchiage Gata Shou Eisei, Short-Term Launch Type Small Satellite)?

[catdlr]

Is the satellite name 短期打上型小衛星 (Tenshi Uchiage Gata Shou Eisei, Short-Term Launch Type Small Satellite)?

Short-range launch type microsatellite  Via (Jarvis AI)

Short-term launch of small satellites  (Bing)

Google Translate:

The Chinese phrase 短期打上型小衛星 (qiánqiān dǎ shàng xíng xiǎo wèixìng) literally translates to "short-term launch type small satellite." In English, this phrase could be translated as "quick-launch small satellite."

The Chinese phrase 短期 (qiánqiān) means "short-term," 打上 (dǎ shàng) means "to launch," 型 (xíng) means "type," 小 (xiǎo) means "small," and 衛星 (wèixìng) means "satellite."

This phrase is often used to refer to small satellites that are designed to be launched quickly and inexpensively. These satellites are often used for research or educational purposes.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Launch track appears to be heading towards SSO:
https://twitter.com/ots_min/status/1753269872304496734

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Live stream will be here:

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Launch window has been refined to 02:01 - 02:17 UTC on March 9th. Weather forecasts are still GO as of today.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Launch window has been further refined to 02:01:12 - 02:17:12 UTC.
Weather still showing no concerns for launch tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/nvslive/status/1765929106619912409

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1766216030634799552

Space One's maiden flight - Japan’s first private-sector orbital launch - is set to occur within a one-hour window on Saturday, March 9 at 11:01 AM JST (02:01 UTC) from the Space One launch pad.

Martin Smith with the details:

LINK to NSF ARTICLE:  https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/03/space-one-kairos/

[edkyle99]

LINK to NSF ARTICLE:  https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/03/space-one-kairos/

Good overview, but I'm not sure about the following sentence:  "The solid rocket motors are made by IHI Aerospace, an investor in Space One, and have been used previously on the Epsilon rocket developed by IHI and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)."

Epsilon and Enhanced Epsilon solid motors are 1.45 to 2.5 meters in diameter as I understand things.  Kairos is 1.35 meters diameter.

 - Ed Kyle

[Galactic Penguin SST]

https://twitter.com/nvslive/status/1766218394477715493

Official reports still GO as of 21:40 UTC; next polling point at 00:30 UTC.

[jcm]

Payload is indeed (as speculated earlier in the other thread) a prototype "quick response" satellite for the Japanese government Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, who also operates the IGS series: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/houdou/pdf/241026sate.pdf

Any guess who built the payload?  MELCO like the IGS sats?

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Payload is indeed (as speculated earlier in the other thread) a prototype "quick response" satellite for the Japanese government Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, who also operates the IGS series: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/houdou/pdf/241026sate.pdf

Any guess who built the payload?  MELCO like the IGS sats?

No official confirmation, but I remember seeing someone pointed out that the spacecraft bus looks like Canon Electronics's CE-SAT-1 series. The mass certainly fits with the payload capability of KAIROS to SSO, and of course Canon is one of Space One's main investors (in addition to roles like building the LV's avionics).

https://twitter.com/chageimgur/status/1750826400935010683

[LH2NHI]

KAIROS T-1day Launch preparation
https://twitter.com/nhk_news/status/1766024346076684318?s=20

[LH2NHI]

Payload is indeed (as speculated earlier in the other thread) a prototype "quick response" satellite for the Japanese government Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, who also operates the IGS series: https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/houdou/pdf/241026sate.pdf

Any guess who built the payload?  MELCO like the IGS sats?

According to a document summarizing the contract for the “short-term launch small satellite system,”
Satellite system is AES Corporation
http://www.aes.co.jp/
The ground system is Skyperfect JSAT.

https://orbitseals.blogspot.com/2020/08/1japan-csice-satellite-rocket.html

"Short-term launch small satellite system" is also mentioned in the Cabinet Office Space Policy Committee materials, and before the official announcement, Grid estimated on OSINT that it would be launched on KAIROS LV.

[LH2NHI]

The launch sequence is shown below.
This is information from NVS, an organization of space enthusiasts who went to the site as a member of the press.
Stage1 motor burn time: 90s
Stage2 motor burn time: 70s
Stage3 motor burn time: 60s
Stage1/2 Sep:T+130s
Stage2/3 Sep:T+280s
Stage3/4 Sep:T+480s
Satellite Sep:T+3100s

https://twitter.com/nvslive/status/1763625831140831594?s=20


Based on this information and assuming that motor combustion starts immediately after separation, the sequence is as follows.
T+000s:Liftoff
T+090s:Stage1 motor burnout
T+130s:Stage1/2 Sep
T+200s:Stage2 motor burnout
T+280s:Stage2/3 Sep
T+340s:Stage3 motor burnout
T+480s:Stage3/4 Sep
T+3100s:Satellite Sep

[Steven Pietrobon]

Hosted webcast has begun.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Presenters on stage.

[Steven Pietrobon]

More speeches.