NinjaSat Satellite

NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
NinjaSat
Satellite name NinjaSat
Form factor CubeSat
Units or mass 6U
Status Operational (NanoAvionics post on LinkedIn and heard on SatNOGS last checked 2023-12-16)
Launched 2023-11-11
NORAD ID 58341
Deployer EXOpod Nova 12U/16U [Exolaunch]
Launcher Falcon 9 (Transporter-9)
Organisation RIKEN
Institution Institute
Entity type Government (Civil / Military)
Nation (HQ) Japan
Nation (AIT) Lithuania
Manufacturer AIVT by NanoAvionics
Operator Mitsui Bussan Aerospace,?
Partners Mitsui Bussan Aerospace
Oneliner

Observing persistently bright X-ray objects. Study black holes and neutron stars.

Description

Study black holes and neutron stars. NanoAvionics company provided its 6U satellite platform for the NinjaSat mission, and integrated it with a payload from Japanese research institute Riken that would track the X-ray photons these compact objects emit to explore how matter accretes to them.

After launching on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 Transporter rideshare mission, NinjaSat would spend two years in LEO observing persistently bright X-ray objects. Targets include Scorpius X-1, a binary star system with a fast-spinning neutron star that makes it one of the brightest X-ray objects trackable from near-Earth orbit.

Riken, which is funding the mission, said NinjaSat will also follow up on observations of transient objects made by Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI), an X-ray camera mounted to the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station.

“NinjaSat allows high cadence monitoring and flexible operations for such transient sources,” Riken chief scientist Toru Tamagawa said, “which are of great value in time-domain astronomy, covertly targeting critical scientific results as a ninja.”

Riken procured NinjaSat from Mitsui Bussan Aerospace (MBA), which facilitates access to the Japanese Experiment Module and brought NanoAvionics in as a subcontractor.

MBA CEO Sadayuki Osugi said NinjaSat is the first satellite in a partnership with NanoAvionics that aims to use the Lithuanian company’s technology for other customers in the Japanese market.
NinjaSat is designed to use two identical Gas Multiplier Counters for measuring individual radiation events, attached to each end of the side of the spacecraft pointed out to space. The spacecraft also has a pair of Radiation Belt Monitors to keep tabs on background particles, and a star tracker for positioning.

NanoAvionics has supplied its 6U M6P nanostellite bus for the mission, provided satellite testing services, and integrated the science payloads developed by RIKEN. The company has also supported the project as an advisor for nanosatellite technology. NanoAvionics will perform functional verification of the satellite bus immediately after launch

Sources [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Photo sources [1] [2] [3] [4]
COTS subsystems
  • PLATFORM - NanoAvionics
Subsystems sources [1]
On the same launch

Last modified: 2024-05-29

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Created by Erik Kulu

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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erikkulu

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