OPUSAT-II (COSPAR 1998-067SG, SATCAT 47930) was a CubeSat developed by Osaka Prefecture University and Muroran Institute of Technology. OPUSAT-II was launched from Wallops Flight Facility on 20 February 2021,^[1][2] and was deployed from the International Space Station. The satellite was nicknamed HIROGARI, for a Japanese word meaning spread, or expand.^[3]

Spacecraft

The satellite's satellite bus was based on the design of Osaka Prefecture University's previous satellite, OPUSAT, which was launched in 2014.^[4] OPUSAT-II had a design life of five and a half months.^[3]

Mission

OPUSAT-II had two main missions. The first mission was to demonstrate high-speed data transmission in amateur radio band. According to the project's website, the satellite communication system's design and the results of the experiment would be made public.^[3]

The second mission was a deployment of a large folded structure. A deployable plastic plate was stored inside the satellite, based on Miura fold.^[5] The folding method that was tested in this mission took into account the thickness of the plate, unlike the traditional Miura fold. The satellite would optically measure the deployment using a pair of cameras.^[3] The team proposes applying this folding method on space-based solar power in the future.^[6][7]

OPUSAT-II decayed from orbit on 15 April 2022.^[8]

See also

• RSP-01
• STARS-EC
• WARP-01

References

External links

• HIROGARI Project Archived 2021-02-21 at the Wayback Machine