9/18/2009

Planck's first image

Planck is a mission of ESA in which a spacecraft take pictures of the universe.
The spacecraft gives a preview of the all-sky images.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/firstlight20090917.html

The horizontal light line is the milky way. Red and blue color areas show the strength of the light. That is, the light from red areas is stronger than that from blue areas.

9/10/2009

H-IIB Successfully Launched!

As might have been expected, JAXA had succeeded!
H-IIB is developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry as the next rocket. It is based on H-IIA. It is the biggest rocket among Japanese rockets.







HTV(H-II Transfer Vehicle) is set in the rocket. HTV transfers various resources to the international space station.



This is the introduction video of HTV.


If you want to know that more in detail, please go to JAXA's English page.

9/03/2009

New Martian Images

I found a lot of new images of the red planet.

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/sept_09.php

They are taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
You can enjoy strange views.


For example, there is an image of craters on the land.
This is too long to put it on the blog.



When I saw this image, I remembered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

9/02/2009

Mars Exploration Videos -variation of landing-

I found an interesting video.

This video is the animation from launch to landing of Mars Exploration Rover (MER).

The particularly important point is the landing of MER. It blew up air bags at landing. It bounced at several times after collision with the land.

I have already heard how MER landed on the land. But, I haven't seen the animation yet.



On the other hand, Phoenix Mars Lander jeted to the land at the landing.
There are various methods to land.
Which method is efficient?

9/01/2009

Video

I just knew that you can paste a video on the blog.

I try it.

Well, I will paste a video related H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV).
HTV is a Japanese spacecraft carrying supplies to the International Space Station.



Success?

I will introduce some articles with videos from now on.

8/29/2009

Additional

Well, I noticed that I did not sufficiently explain about Kodama.

When you read my past explanation, you may not understand why Kodama can extend the time of communication.


Kodama is a stationary satellite. It can see ISS though ISS is in a dead angle of Tsukuba space center.

This is the relation of their positions.


I explain this more in detail at my site.

8/25/2009

JAXA communicates with ISS!

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) became to be able to communicate with ISS.

I heard that the countries which can communicate with ISS themselves are only the U.S., Russia, and Japan.


JAXA uses this facility to communicate with ISS.

Courtesy of JAXA


This facility is called ICS-Exposed Facility subsystem.

It is on Kibo, which is Japanese module of ISS.

If you think "where is ICS-EF?", go to here (I point it out on my page).



By the way, JAXA communicates with ISS through a satellite.

Why? Is it simple to communicate directly?

So, I went to JAXA's site and got it.


The satellite used by JAXA is Kodama launched in 2002. It relays data between other sattellites and Earth.

Courtesy of JAXA

Kodama's page is here.

Unlike the countries which have large territory, Japan has few points to communicate with satellites.

Therefore, if it directly communicates with ISS, the communication continues only in several minutes.

With a satellite relaying data, the area to communicate expands.

JAXA compensates for the lack of resource with its technology.


More information is here (JAXA's page).

8/22/2009

Recitation

I think my English skill can be developed if I write each thing I would like to say, translate it to English, and memorize it.
Of course, I also recite these sentences.
But, I am afraid that the sentences which I wrote may have something wrong.

Dose anybody point it out?

8/08/2009

Make me a ...

When I read "make me a sandwich" in this document, I imagined like the below.
English is difficult.

I start

Hello!
I'm a Japanese student.
Though I write these sentences in English, I'm still learning English. Therefore my English is poor.
I hope that you will understand my English.

My home page is http://sites.google.com/site/somedayuniverse/