A mini-satellite developed by Hirokawa Town-based Nakashimada Engineering Works was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima on Dec. 9 on board an HIIB rocket. The mini-satellite will be testing a technology aimed at reducing space debris by lowering the altitude of dead satellites. The mini-satellite will be carried to the the International Space Station on the Kounotori unmanned cargo transfer vehicle and is expected to be released into space before the end of the fiscal year. This is the first time for a satellite developed by a Kyushu-based company to be launched. Equipped with a device called a de-orbit mechanism, or DOM, the mini-satellite has been dubbed Freedom. The DOM is like an umbrella, that is opened in order to send the satellite back to earth. It was developed in cooperation with Tohoku University. This marks the fourth time a satellite developed by Kyushu Institute of Technology has been launched into space.
Caption: Tetsuya Kaneko, of Nakashimada Engineering Works, Ltd. holds a Freedom satellite (identical the one that will be launched.)
Countdown clock and live stream for the launch:
http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/htv/
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