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Japan To Launch Australian Satellite
Canberra - September 10, 1999 - The Australian Centenary satellite FedSat will be launched late next year by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The decision to launch FedSat from the island of Tanegashima, about 1000 km south west of Tokyo, follows a feasibility study conducted by NASDA and CSIRO, says Dr Brian Embleton of CSIRO and the Cooperative Research Centre for Satellite Systems. "FedSat can be accommodated as a secondary or 'piggyback' satellite on NASDA's H-IIA rocket flight," says Dr Embleton. "This is tentatively scheduled for next year and is also carrying Japan's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II and the microsatellites WEOS and MicroLabsat. "Japanese researchers are very interested in data from FedSat's space science, navigation and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communication experiments," says Dr Embleton. "Based on discussion between NASDA and CSIRO, data from the mission will be exchanged for the launch service. "FedSat will be the third foreign spacecraft launched by NASDA in its thirty-year history, during which it has successfully placed into orbit over thirty domestic applications and test satellites." Dr Embleton says that Australia welcomes the decision by the Japanese Government. "This is a gesture, coming at the cusp of the millennium, that augurs well for a strong relationship between our two countries over the coming century," he says. "We have an ongoing history of cooperative space projects, and we look forward to many exciting joint research projects based on data from FedSat, our Centre's first major space project."
FedSat is a microsatellite about 58 kg in mass. It will carry advanced experimental equipment for space science research developed by the University of Newcastle and University of California, Los Angeles. Dr Embleton says that the mission will test new technologies in satellite computing and communications developed by the Queensland University of Technology, the University of South Australia, CSIRO, the University of Technology Sydney, and other Centre participants. The satellite -- Australia's first scientific space mission in thirty years -- will also carry a navigation payload supplied by NASA and a commemorative CD-ROM carrying messages from the Australian and Japanese public. The spacecraft "bus" or platform for FedSat is under construction at Space Innovations Limited, England, by Engineers from SIL and Australian companies Auspace and Vipac, and will be delivered to Canberra early in 2000. SIL is due to join the Cooperative Research Centre for Satellite Systems later this year, pending approval from the Commonwealth Government which administers the CRC Program.
Land of Oz at SpaceDaily
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The peak body for Japan's space program, the Space Activities Commission, recently approved NASDA's proposal for FedSat's launch, following discussions in Tokyo between Prime Ministers John Howard and Keizo Obuchi.