Kounotori 2
Kounotori 2 approaches the ISS on 27 January 2011
|
|
| Mission type | ISS resupply |
|---|---|
| Operator | JAXA |
| COSPAR ID | 2011-003A |
| SATCAT no. | 37351 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | HTV |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 22 January 2011, 05:37:57 UTC |
| Rocket | H-IIB |
| Launch site | Tanegashima Yoshinobu 2 |
| Contractor | Mitsubishi |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Deorbited |
| Decay date | 30 March 2011, 03:09 UTC |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 308 kilometres (191 mi) |
| Apogee | 324 kilometres (201 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 90.84 minutes |
| Epoch | 24 January 2011 |
| Berthing at ISS | |
| Berthing port | Harmony nadir |
| Berthing date | 27 January 2011 |
| Unberthing date | 19 February 2011 |
| Time berthed | 22 days |
| Berthing at ISS | |
| Berthing port | Harmony zenith |
| Berthing date | 19 February 2011 |
| Unberthing date | 10 March 2011 |
| Time berthed | 19 days |
| Berthing at ISS | |
| Berthing port | Harmony nadir |
| Berthing date | 10 March 2011 |
| Unberthing date | 28 March 2011 |
| Time berthed | 18 days |
|
|
|
Kounotori 2 (こうのとり2号機, "white stork"), also known as HTV-2,was launched in January 2011 and was the second Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched by the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 2 (H-IIB F2) manufactured by MHI and JAXA. After the supplies were unloaded, Kounotori 2 was loaded with waste material from ISS, including used experiment equipment and used clothes. Kounotori 2 was then unberthed and separated from the ISS and burned up upon reentering the atmosphere on 30 March 2011.
Kounotori 2 is four meters across and about 10 meters long. It consists primarily of three parts: a Propulsion Module, an Avionics Module, and a Logistics Carrier.
The propulsion module is installed at the rear of the Kounotori and is composed of the main engines for orbit change, the Reaction Control System thrusters for positioning and attitude control, fuel and oxidizing reagent tanks, and high pressure air tanks. The avionics module is installed in the center part of Kounotori, with electronic equipment for guidance control, power supply, and telecommunications data processing. The logistics carrier stores supplies.
Kounotori 2 carried 5.3 tonnes of cargo to ISS, consisting of 4 tonnes in the Pressurized Logistics Carrier (PLC) and 1.3 tonnes in the Unpressurized Logistics Carrier (ULC). Cargo in the PLC consists of spare system components (51% of cargo weight), food (24%), science experiment materials (10%), crew commodities (8%), and water (7%). It included the Kobairo (Gradient Heating Furnace) rack and a Multipurpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR).
The Gradient Heating Furnace is a high-temperature electrical furnace that will be used to generate large scale, high-quality crystals from melting materials. The MSPR is a multipurpose rack that will be used for many different functions. The rack consists of three main components – a Work Volume, a Work Bench, and a Small Experiment Area. One experiment that is already planned for the Work Volume, to be launched on a later flight, is the Aquatic Habitat, which will be used to breed small fish in order to study their responses to microgravity and cosmic radiation.
...
Wikipedia