Initial experimental result of pico-satellite KUKAI on orbit

Abstract

Kagawa Satellite KUKAI has been developed in Kagawa University for technical verification and evaluation of a tethered space robot proposed in 1995. Its technical name before the launch was Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite (STARS). KUKAI was launched by the H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima, Japan on January 23, 2009. Main characteristics of KUKAI are: (i) it is mother-daughter satellite; (ii) it is a tethered system on orbit; (iii) the daughter satellite is a robot having an arm link. The mother satellite deploys and retrieves a tether connected to the daughter satellite, which is a tethered space robot. During tether deployment, the attitude of the daughter satellite is controlled by its own arm link motion, and a camera mounted on the daughter satellite takes a photograph of the mother satellite. KUKAI was successfully separated from the rocket and transferred into the planned orbit. Normal condition was monitored at the ground station from the housekeeping telemetry, and then the main functions for tether deployment and robotic motion control were verified and evaluated.