The Successful Launch of the Fourth Epsilon Launch Vehicle and Its Future Ride-Share Plans

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33rd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites SSC19-X-05 The Successful Launch of the Fourth Epsilon Launch Vehicle and its Future Ride-Share Plans

Makoto Horikawa1), Hitomi Izumi1), Yusuke Ohagi1) Yuichi Noguchi1), Kazuhiro Yagi1), Takayuki Imoto2) 1) IHI AEROSPACE Co., Ltd. (IA) 2) Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

August 7, 2019

1. Epsilon Launch Vehicle and Rideshare Features

2. Fourth Epsilon Flight

3. Future Plans

©JAXA

SSC19-X-05 2 Contribution to Space Activities by IHI AEROSPACE Launch Vehicles International Space Station (ISS) Program

©JAXA

©JAXA/NASA ©JAXA/NASA Japanese Experiment JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer Module (JEM) "Kibo" “J-SSOD”

Liquid Propulsion Systems

©JAXA/NASA H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Planetary Exploration Thruster

©JAXA ©JAXA EpsilonEpsilon LaunchLaunch VehicleVehicle Sample Return Small Carry-on Capsule Impactor Propellant Tank RCS SSC19-X-05 3 Overview of the Epsilon Launch Vehicle

 The Epsilon is a three-stage solid propellant launch vehicle  An additional liquid propelled Post Boost Stage (PBS) is available Standard Configuration (w/o PBS) Optional Configuration (w/ PBS) Length 26m Diameter 2.6m Mass 95.4t 95.7t

Launch Capacity 1200kg to LEO 590kg to 500km SSO

 The Epsilon was developed as a national program led by JAXA  The Epsilon was made to satisfy the needs for small satellite launches  Flight-proven subsystems derived from both M-V and H-IIA were enhanced and applied to make the Epsilon highly reliable launch vehicle

3 features for payload friendliness Fairing, Avionic, RCS, Booster  Reduced vibration environment Upper stages,  High injection accuracy Integration  Late access technology

©JAXA SSC19-X-05 M-V Epsilon H-IIA 4 Launch History Enhanced Capabilities First Rideshare Launch Flight No. 1 2 3 4

©JAXA ©JAXA ©JAXA ©JAXA

Date Sep. 14th, 2013 Dec. 20th, 2016 Jan. 18th, 2018 Jan. 18th, 2019 Innovative Satellite Hisaki (SPRINT-A) Arase (ERG) ASNARO-2 Payload(s) Technology 340 kg 365 kg 570 kg Demonstration-1 (7 satellites) Highly Elliptical Orbit LEO SSO 500 km SSO 500 km Orbit Configuration Optional Standard Optional Optional Result Success Success Success Success SSC19-X-05 5 Launch Site - Uchinoura Space Center -

 Uchinoura Space Center (USC) locates in southeast part of the Kyushu Island  About 24-hour trip from Logan, Utah

©Google

Logan

San Francisco Tokyo, JapanM(Mu) Center

©Google

Assembly Building

Kagoshima USC Rocket Assembly Tower and Launcher

©JAXA ©JAXA

SSC19-X-05 6 M Center - From Integration to Launch -

Assembly Building : Integration of each stage  Clean room (Class 100,000) : Satellite check-out  Clean booth (Class 100,000) : Store satellites inside the vehicle’s fairing Rocket Assembly Tower : Integration of the vehicle

M Center

Assembly Building Rocket Assembly Tower Clean Booth and Launcher Assembly Building

Clean Room

Clean Booth

©JAXA ©JAXA

SSC19-X-05 7 Rideshare Configuration "ESMS“ Epsilon Satellite Mount Structure

 Designed to deploy different size of satellites while keeping it compact  Three types of satellites are available

One 200kg-Class Small Satellite

Three 60kg-Class Microsatellites

Two sets of ©JAXA 1U-3U CubeSats ©JAXA SSC19-X-05 8 60kg-Class Microsatellites 60kg-Class Microsatellites

©PSC

 8-in. Lightband® manufactured by Planetary Systems Corporation is used for integration  Lightband® has a proven track record of satellite separation

©JAXA ©JAXA ©JAXA MicroDragon RISESAT ALE-1 (50kg) (60kg) (68kg) ©JAXA ©JAXA SSC19-X-05 9 60kg-Class Microsatellites 60kg-Class Microsatellites

©JAXA ©JAXA

©JAXA

©JAXA ©JAXA Integrated in the clean room SSC19-X-05 10 1U-3U CubeSat "E-SSOD“ Epsilon Small Satellite Orbital Deployer

 Any combination of CubeSat up to total of 3U

Modified for Epsilon “J-SSOD” JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer

©JAXA/NASA ©JAXA/NASA  11 opportunities since Oct., 2012

©JAXA  All 38 satellites successfully deployed ©JAXA SSC19-X-05 11 1U-3U CubeSat "E-SSOD“ Epsilon Small Satellite Orbital Deployer

©JAXA ©JAXA ©JAXA Aoba VELOX-IV NEXUS OrigamiSat-1 (3kg, 2U) (1kg, 1U) (4kg, 3U)

©JAXA

©JAXA ©JAXA ©JAXA Integrated in the clean room SSC19-X-05 12 200kg-class Small Satellite 200kg-class Small Satellite

©KHI  PAF-937M manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industry is used for integration

©JAXA

RAPIS-1 (200kg)

©JAXA ©JAXA

©JAXA ©JAXA Integrated in the clean booth SSC19-X-05 13 Nominal Sequence of Separation

 Followed by the first separation of a satellite, the vehicle lowers its altitude for the next separation  Contamination and collision avoidance maneuver (CCAM) and discharge of the remaining propellant would be preformed at the lowest orbit after separating all satellites

SC1 Separation (small satellite)

Initial Orbit

SC2 Separation (microsatellite)

Orbital and attitude SC3 Separation (microsatellite)

maneuvers

Orbital and attitude Separation of satellites

maneuvers ··· (microsatellite and cubesats)

CCAM and discharge of the SSC19-X-05 remaining propellant 14 Mission Modification for the Fourth Epsilon

There were two major demands for the fourth Epsilon’s mission.  Separate RAPIS-1 (small satellite) first  Lowest orbit for ALE-1 (microsatellite) since ALE-1 would decrease its orbit during its operation From the nominal mission sequence, we modified to separate ALE-1 last and raise the vehicle’s orbit for CCAM.

500km ×500km

RAPIS-1 Separation (small satellite)

RISESAT Separation (microsatellite)

Mission modification

Separation of satellites CCAM and discharge of

Orbital and attitude the propellant

··· (microsatellite maneuvers and cubesats) ALE-1 Separation

(micorsatellite)

Orbital and attitude

SSC19-X-05 maneuvers 15 Launch Results of the Fourth Epsilon

The fourth Epsilon was launched in the morning of January 18, 2019.  Confirmed all separation of satellites  Confirmed all satellites’ acquisition of signal

SSC19-X-05 16 Flight Path

90 ：Planned Flight Path ：Actual Flight Data Separations 60 ALE-1 sep Liftoff from USC

30 3rd stage sep NEXUS/Aoba VELOX-IV sep OrigamiSat-1 sep 0 MicroDragon sep 1st PBS ignition RISESAT sep -30

1st PBS cut-off RAPIS-1 sep Geodetic Latitude [degN] Latitude Geodetic -60 2nd PBS cut-off

2nd PBS ignition -90 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 Geodetic Longitude [degE] SSC19-X-05 17 Orbit Injection Accuracy

ALE-1 used apogee and perigee altitude as the interface condition. This figure uses the semi-major axis value converted from apogee and perigee altitude.

SSC19-X-05 18 Future Plans

 Epsilon has been continuously improving to meet the needs of launching various satellites  We will apply minor modifications to carry more satellites for the fifth launch

FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020s Epsilon TF-1 F-2 F-3 F-4 F-5

3. Rideshare Capability 2. Enhanced Capabilities 1. Development

Flight F-4 F-5 1 small satellite 1 small satellite Payloads 3 microsatellites 3 microsatellites 3 CubeSats (one 1U, one 2U, one 3U) 4 CubeSats (one 1U, one 2U, two 3U)

SSC19-X-05 19 Synergy Development with H3 Launch Vehicle

 IHI Aerospace was selected as the prime contractor for developing and providing launch services of the new Epsilon launch vehicle which enhances international competitiveness  The new Epsilon will be developed to obtain synergy effects with H3 launch vehicle

FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020s Epsilon TF-1 F-2 F-3 F-4 F-5

3. Rideshare Capability 4. Enhance International 1. Development 2. Enhanced Capabilities Competitiveness

Synergy Development with H3 H Series Solid Rocket Booster (SRB-3) H3 H-IIA Avionics, PBS etc.

H3 Launch Vehicle Development

SSC19-X-05 20 Summary

Overview of the Epsilon Launch Vehicle and Rideshare Features  Epsilon launch vehicle was developed to satisfy the needs for small satellite launches  ESMS and E-SSOD were developed to accommodate rideshare launch

Fourth Epsilon Flight  Epsilon’s fourth flight was successfully conducted with seven satellites onboard on January 18th, 2019  All events occurred as we planned, achieving high injection accuracy

Future Plans  We will have some minor modifications to carry more satellites into orbit  The further development plan was presented to meet the growing needs for small satellite launches

Thank you for your attention!

User’s Manual is available ONLINE!! https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/epsilon/ https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/epsilon/ pdf/EpsilonUsersManual_e.pdf