OICETS

Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite

Names

OICETS, Kirari

Mission type

Technology demonstration

Operator

JAXA

COSPAR ID

2005-031A

SATCAT no.

28809

Website

global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/oicets/index.html

Mission duration

Planned: 1 year
Final: 4 years, 1 month

Spacecraft properties

Manufacturer

Toshiba

Launch mass

570 kg (1,260 lb)

Dimensions

0.78 × 1.1 × 1.5 m (2.6 × 3.6 × 4.9 ft)

Start of mission

Launch date

23 August 2005, 21:10 (2005-08-23UTC21:10) UTC^[1]

Rocket

Dnepr^[2]

Launch site

Baikonur Pad 109/95^[2]

End of mission

Disposal

Decommissioned

Deactivated

24 September 2009, 05:48 (2009-09-24UTC05:49) UTC^[3]

Orbital parameters

Reference system

Geocentric

Regime

Low Earth

Eccentricity

0.00107

Perigee altitude

597 km (371 mi)

Apogee altitude

612 km (380 mi)

Inclination

97.8°

Period

96.8 minutes

Epoch

23 August 2005, 17:10:00 UTC^[1]

Instruments
LUCE	Laser-Utilizing Communications Equipment
MVE	Micro Vibration Equipment

The Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS), also called Kirari, was an experimental satellite launched by JAXA to demonstrate interorbital communication between satellites through optical (laser) means. OICETS was originally slated for a launch on the second J-I launcher. Due to problems with that launcher, the launch had to be put on hold. Using the H-IIA was out of question: it would have been overkill to use the H-IIA to send a 570 kilograms (1,260 lb) satellite into low Earth orbit, and there was no budget for another H-IIA launch. Finally, in order to be able to perform the tests during the lifetime of the European Artemis satellite (since 2014, sold to Avanti Communications to exploit its Ka, S, and L-band payloads), OICETS was successfully launched on an SS-18-based Dnepr rocket.

The satellite was decommissioned and its mission terminated on 24 September 2009 at 05:48 UTC.^[3]

Achievements

On 9 December 2005, JAXA succeeded in establishing optical links between OICETS and Artemis.
During March 2006, a successful link between OICETS and a ground station in Japan was established. This was the first optical links connection between a fixed ground station and an LEO satellite.
On 7 June 2006, JAXA established a communication link between OICETS and a mobile ground station operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Notes

^ ^a ^b "OICETS - Trajectory Details". National Space Science Data Center. NASA. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Kirari". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Kirari: Signals stopped; successful operation ends". JAXA. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2017.

External links

OICETS website at JAXA.jp

Japanese space program

Italics indicates projects in development.
Symbol ^† indicates failed projects.
~~Strikethrough lines~~ indicate cancelled projects.

Space agencies

National space agencies	JAXA former ISAS NAL NASDA NICT JSS
Joint development partners	NASA¹ ESA² ASI³ CSA⁴ Roscosmos⁵ AEB⁶ INPE⁷ ISRO⁸

Astronomical observation

Past	Akari ASCA ASTRO-E^† ~~Astro-G~~ CORSA^† Ginga Hakucho HALCA Hinotori Hitomi^† ~~SPICA~~ Suzaku Tenma Yohkoh
Active	Hinode Hisaki XRISM¹
Future	ATHENA² SOLAR-C¹ GREX-PLUS [ja] HiZ-GUNDAM [ja] LAPYUTA LiteBIRD Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope¹ Nano-JASMINE Small-JASMINE

Communications satellites, broadcasting satellites and satellite navigation systems

Past	BS 2X 3H 3N Kakehashi Kirari Kizuna Kodama MBSat N-STAR a b Sakura (1 2a 2b 3a 3b) Yuri 1 2a 2b 3a 3b
Active	Kirameki 1 2 Michibiki 1 2 3 4 1R MTSAT N-STAR c d JDRS
Future	DSN 3 QZS 5 6 7

Earth observation

Past	Akebono Daichi 1 3^† Denpa Fuyo-1 Jikiken Kyokko Midori I II Momo 1 1b Ohozora Taiyo TRMM¹ Ume 1 b Geotail¹
Active	Aqua^1,7 Arase ASNARO 1 2 Daichi-2 GPM¹ Himawari Ibuki original 2 Shikisai Shizuku
Future	ALOS-4 EarthCARE² GOSAT-GW PMM

Engineering tests

Past	Ayame 1 2 DASH EXPRESS IKAROS Jindai Kiku 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 LDREX 1 2 LRE Micro LabSat-1 Myojo Ohsumi Orizuru RAISE 2 3^† ~~PETSAT~~ RAPIS-1 Ryusei SERVIS-1 SERVIS-2 SDS-1 SFU Shinsei ~~SmartSat-1~~ Tansei 1 2 3 4 Tasuki Tsubame Tsubasa USERS
Active	Ajisai Reimei SDS-4
Future	BEAK ETS-IX G-SATELLITE SERVIS-3

Human spaceflight

Past	~~Fuji crewed spacecraft~~ ~~HOPE-X~~ H-II Transfer Vehicle
Active	International Space Station (ISS) & Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō)^1,2,3,4,5,6
Future	HTV-X Japanese Space Station Module (Mitsui) Lunar Gateway^1,2,4

Space probes

The Moon

Past	Hakuto-R Mission 1^† Hiten ~~Lunar-A~~ Kaguya (SELENE) OMOTENASHI^† ~~SELENE-2~~
Active	EQUULEUS Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)
Future	Hakuto-R Mission 2 HERACLES^2,4 Lunar Cruiser Lunar Polar Exploration Mission⁸ (LUPEX) Yaoki

Others

Past	Hayabusa ~~Hayabusa Mk2~~ Nozomi^† PROCYON^† Sakigake Shin'en^† Suisei
Active	Akatsuki BepiColombo (MMO/Mio)² Hayabusa2 Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer²
Future	Comet Interceptor² DESTINY+ Dragonfly¹ Hera² MELOS Martian Moons eXploration Next Generation Small-Body Sample Return TEREX

Reconnaissance satellites

Past	IGS-Optical 1 2 Experimentally 3 IGS-Radar 1 2
Active	IGS-Optical 3 4 5 6 Experimentally 5 IGS-Radar 3 4 Spare 5 6
Future	IGS-Optical 7 8 IGS-Radar 7 8

Private small satellites

Past	CosMoz CUTE 1.7+APD Fuji 1 2 Hayato HIBARI HIT-SAT Kagayaki Kanta-kun (WEOS) Kūkai Maido-1 Negai☆″ Niwaka RAIKO Waseda-SAT2 WE WISH
Active	CUTE 1 1.7+APDII Fuji-3 Hitomi Hodoyoshi 1 2 3 4 Horyu 2 Kiseki PROITERES Raijin Raijin-2 SEEDS SOCRATES XI IV V
Future	DRUMS KITSUNE OPUSAT-II QSAT-EOS RSP-01 SOMESAT SpaceTuna1 SPROUT TSUBAME WNI satellite

v t e ← 2004 Orbital launches in 2005 2006 →
January	Deep Impact Kosmos 2414, Universitetsky-Tatyana
February	AMC-12 USA-181 XTAR-EUR, Maqsat-B2 (Sloshsat-FLEVO) Himawari 6 Progress M-52 (TNS-0)
March	XM-3 Inmarsat-4 F1 Ekspress AM-2
April	USA-165 Apstar 6 Soyuz TMA-6 DART Spaceway 1 USA-182
May	Cartosat-1, HAMSAT NOAA-18 DirecTV-8 Foton-M No.2
June	Progress-M 53 Molniya-3K No.12 Cosmos 1 Intelsat Americas 8 Ekspress AM-3
July	Shijian 7 Suzaku STS-114 (Raffaello MPLM)
August	FSW-4 2 Thaicom 4 MRO Kirari, Reimei Monitor-E FSW-3 3
September	Kosmos 2415 Progress-M 54 (RadioSkaf) Anik F1R USA-183 USA-185
October	Soyuz TMA-7 CryoSat Shenzhou 6 Syracuse 3A, Galaxy 15 USA-186 Beijing-1, TopSat, Sina-1, SSETI Express (CubeSat Xi-V, UWE-1, nCUBE-2), Mozhaets-5, Rubin-5
November	Inmarsat-4 F2 Venus Express Spaceway-2, Telkom-2
December	Progress-M 55 Gonets-M No.1, Kosmos 2416 Meteosat 9, INSAT-4A Kosmos 2417, Kosmos 2418, Kosmos 2419 GIOVE-A AMC-23
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).