HALCA
HALCAGeneral information |
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NSSDC ID |
1997-005A |
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Organization |
ISAS |
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Major contractors |
NEC Toshiba Space Systems |
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Launch date |
12 February 1997 at 04:50:00 UTC |
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Launch site |
Kagoshima Space Center |
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Launch vehicle |
M-5-1 |
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Mission length |
6 years, 8 months |
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Mass |
830 kilograms (1,830 lb) |
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Type of orbit |
Elliptical |
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Orbit height |
- 21,400 km (apogee)
- 560km (perigee)
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Orbit period |
6.3 hours |
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Wavelength |
1.6 GHz, 5.0 GHz |
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Diameter |
8 meters |
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Website |
HALCA |
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HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy), also known for its project name VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Programme), or the code name MUSES-B (for the second of the Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft series), is a Japanese 8 meter diameter radio telescope satellite which was used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). It was the first such space-borne dedicated VLBI mission.
It was placed in a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee altitude of 21,400 km and a perigee altitude of 560 km, with an orbital period of approximately 6.3 hours. This orbit allowed imaging of celestial radio sources by the satellite in conjunction with an array of ground-based radio telescopes, such that both good (u,v) plane coverage and very high resolution were obtained.
Although designed to observe in three frequency bands: 1.6 GHz, 5.0 GHz, and 22 GHz, it was found that the sensitivity of the 22 GHz band had severely degraded after orbital deployment, probably caused by vibrational deformation of the dish shape at launch, thus limiting observations to the 1.6 GHz and 5.0 GHz bands.
HALCA was launched in February 1997 from Kagoshima Space Center, and made its final VSOP observations in October 2003, far exceeding its 3 year predicted lifespan, before the loss of attitude control. All operations were officially ended in November 2005.
[1]
A follow-up mission ASTRO-G (VSOP-2) was planned, with a proposed launch date of 2012, but the project was eventually cancelled in 2011 due to increasing costs and the difficulties of achieving its science goals. It was expected to achieve resolutions up to ten times higher and up to ten times greater sensitivity than its predecessor HALCA.
The cancellation of ASTRO-G leaves the Russian Spektr-R mission as the only currently operational space VLBI facility.
Highlights
- Observations of hydroxyl masers and pulsars at 1.6 GHz
- Detection of interference fringes for quasar PKS1519-273 between HALCA and terrestrial radio telescopes
- Routines imaging of quasars and radio galaxies etc. by means of experimental VLBI observations with HALCA and terrestrial radio telescope networks
References
External links
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| Completed | |
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| Lost | |
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| Completed |
- hibernating after mission: SWAS (1998–2005)
- TRACE (1998–2010)
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| On hiatus | |
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| Cancelled | |
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| See also | |
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- Category
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Japanese space program |
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| Organizations | |
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| Earth observation | Completed | |
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| In operation | |
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| Planned | |
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| Communications, broadcasting and positioning | Completed |
- Sakura (1
- 2a
- 2b
- 3a
- 3b)
- Yuri
- BS
- Kakehashi
- N-STAR
- Kirari
- MBSat
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| In operation | |
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| Planned | |
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| Engineering tests | Completed | |
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| In operation | |
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| Planned |
- PETSAT
- SERVIS-3
- SLATS
- DESTINY
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| Cancelled | |
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| Private miniaturized satellites | Completed | |
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| In operation |
- Fuji-3
- CUTE
- XI
- SEEDS
- Raijin
- Kiseki
- Hitomi
- Horyu
- PROITERES
- RAIKO
- FITSAT-1
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| Planned |
- WNI satellite
- SPROUT
- TSUBAME
- QSAT-EOS
- SOMESAT
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| Astronomical observation | Completed | |
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| In operation | |
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| Planned | |
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| Cancelled | |
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| Lunar and planetary exploration | Completed | |
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| In operation | |
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| Failed | |
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| Planned | |
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| Cancelled | |
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| Reconnaissance | Completed | |
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| In operation | |
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| Planned | |
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| Human spaceflight | Completed | |
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| In operation | |
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| Planned | |
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| Cancelled | |
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- Italics indicates projects in development.
- Superscripts indicate joint development with1NASA, 2ESA, 3ASI, 4CSA, 5RKA, 6AEB and 7INPE.
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| STS-81 | GPS IIR-1 | GE 2 · Nahuel 1A | Soyuz TM-25 | STS-82 | Haruka | Kosmos 2337 · Kosmos 2338 · Kosmos 2339 · Gonets-D1 #4 · Gonets-D1 #5 · Gonets-D1 #6 | JCSAT-R | USA-130 | Intelsat 801 | Mozhayets 2 | Tempo-2 | STS-83 | USA-131 | Progress M-34 | Kosmos 2340 | Thaicom 3 · BSAT-1a | Kosmos 2341 | Minisat 01 · Founders | GOES 10 | Iridium 4 · Iridium 5 · Iridium 6 · Iridium 7 · Iridium 8 | Chinasat 6A | Kosmos 2342 | STS-84 | Kosmos 2343 | Tselina-2 | Thor 2 | Telstar 5 | Inmarsat-3 F4 · INSAT-2D | Kosmos 2344 | Feng Yun 2A | Iridium 9 · Iridium 10 · Iridium 11 · Iridium 12 · Iridium 13 · Iridium 14 · Iridium 16 | Intelsat 802 | STS-94 | Progress M-35 | Iridium 15 · Iridium 17 · Iridium 18 · Iridium 20 · Iridium 21 | USA-132 | Superbird-C | OrbView-2 | Soyuz TM-26 | STS-85 (CRISTA-SPAS) | PAS-6 | Kosmos 2345 | Agila 2 | Iridium 22 · Iridium 23 · Iridium 24 · Iridium 25 · Iridium 26 | Lewis | ACE | PAS-5 | FORTE | Iridium MFS-1 · Iridium MFS-2 | Hot Bird 3 · Meteosat 7 | GE-3 | Iridium 27 · Iridium 28 · Iridium 29 · Iridium 30 · Iridium 31 · Iridium 32 · Iridium 33 | Kosmos 2346 · FAISAT-2V | Intelsat 803 | Molniya-1T #98 | STS-86 | Iridium 19 · Iridium 34 · Iridium 35 · Iridium 36 · Iridium 37 | IRS-1D | Progress M-36 ( Sputnik 40 · X-Mir) | EchoStar III | Foton #11 | Cassini ( Huygens) | Apstar-IIR | USA-133 | STEP-4 | USA-135 · FalconGOLD | Maqsat-B · Maqsat-H · YES | SCD-2A | USA-134 | USA-136 | Iridium 38 · Iridium 39 · Iridium 40 · Iridium 41 · Iridium 43 | Kupon | Sirius 2 · IndoStar-1 | Resurs-F1M #1 | STS-87 (SPARTAN-201) | TRMM · Orihime · Hikoboshi | JCSAT-1B · Equator-S | Astra 1G | Iridium 42 · Iridium 44 | Galaxy 8i | Kosmos 2347 | Kosmos 2348 | Progress M-37 | Iridium 45 · Iridium 46 · Iridium 47 · Iridium 48 · Iridium 49 | Intelsat 804 | Orbcomm FM5 · Orbcomm FM6 · Orbcomm FM7 · Orbcomm FM8 · Orbcomm FM9 · Orbcomm FM10 · Orbcomm FM11 · Orbcomm FM12 | Early Bird 1 | AsiaSat 3 | | Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in brackets. |
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