OICETS
Sign in to saveAlso known as Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite, Kirari
The Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS), also called Kirari, was an experimental satellite launched by JAXA to demonstrate interorbital communication between satellites through optical (laser) means. OICETS was originally slated for a launch on the second J-I launcher. Due to problems with that launcher, the launch had to be put on hold. Using the H-IIA was out of question: it would have been overkill to use the H-IIA to send a satellite into low Earth orbit, and there was no budget for another H-IIA launch. Finally, in order to be able to perform the tests d
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- Mass
- 570
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- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 2005-08-23
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- OICETS
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The Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS), also called Kirari, was an experimental satellite launched by JAXA to demonstrate interorbital communication between satellites through optical (laser) means. OICETS was originally slated for a launch on the second J-I launcher. Due to problems with that launcher, the launch had to be put on hold. Using the H-IIA was out of question: it would have been overkill to use the H-IIA to send a satellite into low Earth orbit, and there was no budget for another H-IIA launch. Finally, in order to be able to perform the tests during the lifetime of the European Artemis satellite (since 2014, sold to Avanti Communications to exploit its Ka, S, and L-band payloads), OICETS was successfully launched on a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket.
The satellite was decommissioned and its mission terminated on 24 September 2009 at 05:48 UTC.