Niwaka

Japanese CubeSat satellite

Not to be confused with Niwaka (company).

Niwaka

FITSAT-1 satellite in the middle

Names| FITSAT-1
Mission type| Technology demonstration
Operator| Fukuoka Institute of Technology
COSPAR ID| 2012-038C (1998-067CP)
SATCAT no.| 38853
Mission duration| 273 days (achieved)
100 days (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type| CubeSat
Launch mass| 1.33 kg (2.9 lb)
Dimensions| 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm (1U)
Start of mission
Launch date| 21 July 2012, 02:06:18 UTC
Rocket| H-IIB F3
Launch site| Tanegashima, Yoshinobu LC-Y2
Contractor| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Deployed from| ISS Kibō
Delivered by Kounotori 3
Deployment date| 4 October 2012,
15:44:15.297 UTC
End of mission
Decay date| 4 July 2013
Orbital parameters
Reference system| Geocentric orbit
Regime| Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude| 413 km (257 mi)
Apogee altitude| 418 km (260 mi)
Inclination| 51.65°
Period| 93.00 minutes

Niwaka or FITSAT-1 is a 1U CubeSat satellite deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 4 October 2012. The Niwaka satellite includes high power LEDs which are driven by 200 watts pulses, allowing Morse code style communication from the sky to the ground.[1] FITSAT-1 (Niwaka) communicates with ground by means of 5.8 GHz high-speed (115200 bit/s) transmitter. It also has a 437 MHz (amateur band) beacon and transmitter with data rate 1200 bit/s for telemetry downlink.

The name Niwaka derives from "Hakata Niwaka", which is traditional impromptu comical talking with masks. It is also the old name of the city Fukuoka, site of the Fukuoka Institute of Technology in Japan which created the satellite.[2]

WE WISH, RAIKO, FITSAT-1, F-1, and TechEdSat-1 travelled to orbit aboard Kounotori 3 (HTV-3).[3]

It reentered in the atmosphere of Earth on 4 July 2013.[4]

## Launch

[edit]

CubeSats deployed to orbit from the International Space Station on 4 October 2012 (from left: TechEdSat-1, F-1 and FITSAT-1).

## See also

[edit]

* Spaceflight portal

* 2012 in spaceflight
* Ginrei \- another LED satellite (2014)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ FITSAT-1 satellite scheduled to write Morse code in the sky
2. ^ FITSAT
3. ^ WE WISH
4. ^ FITSAT-1 (NIWAKA)

## External links

[edit]

* FITSAT-1 (Niwaka) log

* v
* t
* e

← 2011

Orbital launches in 2012

2013 →

January|

* Ziyuan III-01, VesselSat-2
* Fengyun 2-07
* USA-233
* Progress M-14M

February|

* Navid
* LARES, ALMASat-1, Xatcobeo, UniCubeSat-GG, ROBUSTA, e-st@r, Goliat, MaSat-1, PW-Sat
* SES-4
* Compass-G5
* MUOS-1

March|

* Edoardo Amaldi ATV
* Intelsat 22
* Kosmos 2479
* Apstar 7

April|

* USA-234
* Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3
* Progress M-15M
* YahSat-1B
* RISAT-1
* Compass-M3, Compass-M4

May|

* USA-235
* Tianhui 1B
* Yaogan 14, Tiantuo 1
* Soyuz TMA-04M
* JCSAT-13, Vinasat-2
* Kosmos 2480
* Shizuku, Kompsat 3, SDS-4, Horyu 2
* Nimiq 6
* SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2, New Frontier
* Fajr
* ChinaSat 2A
* Yaogan 15

June|

* Intelsat 19
* NuSTAR
* Shenzhou 9
* USA-236 / Quasar 18
* USA-237 / Orion 8

July|

* EchoStar XVII, MSG-3
* SES-5
* Soyuz TMA-05M
* Kounotori 3 (Raiko, We-Wish, Niwaka, TechEdSat, F-1)
* Kanopus-V1, BelKA-2, Zond-PP, TET-1, exactView-1
* Tianlian I-03
* Gonets-M No.3, Gonets-M No.4, Kosmos 2481, MiR

August|

* Progress M-16M (Sfera-53)
* Intelsat 20, HYLAS 2
* Telkom-3, Ekspress-MD2
* Intelsat 21
* RBSP-A, RBSP-B

September|

* SPOT 6, PROITERES, mRESINS
* USA-238, SMDC-ONE 1.1, SMDC-ONE 1.2, AeroCube 4, AeroCube 4A, AeroCube 4B, Aeneas, Re, CSSWE, CP5, CXBN, CINEMA 1
* MetOp-B
* Compass-M5, Compass-M6
* Astra 2F, GSAT-10
* VRSS-1

October|

* USA-239
* SpaceX CRS-1, Orbcomm-2
* David, Sif
* Shijian 9-01, Shijian 9-02
* Intelsat 23
* Soyuz TMA-06M
* Compass G6
* Progress M-17M

November|

* Luch 5B, Yamal-300K
* Eutelsat 21B, Star One C3
* Meridian 6
* Huanjing 1C
* EchoStar XVI
* Yaogan 16A, Yaogan 16B, Yaogan 16C
* ChinaSat 12

December|

* Pléiades-HR 1B
* Eutelsat 70B
* Yamal-402
* USA-240
* Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2
* Göktürk-2
* Soyuz TMA-07M
* Skynet 5D, Mexsat Bicentenario

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).
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