Project Page: http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/ikaros/index_e.html

Photos: http://jda.jaxa.jp/jda/p3_e.php?mode=level...mp;mission=9095

Description Page: http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/e/activity/ikaros.html

Here is a movie about the Ikaros. It is a bit long, but it should give you some idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_6HOqBkP2o

Pandaneko

Akatsuki and IKAROS about to be transported to the VAB for mating to H-2A rocket

http://twitter.com/ikaroskun/status/13593614219

And here are photos showing the aluminum plates containing 63,248 names and a Planetary Society-provided DVD containing 89,000 names (that were submitted online between December of last year and March 22) being installed onto IKAROS

(We don't seem to have a dedicated IKAROS thread, so...)

In Japanese (which I can't understand), but that implies that a free-flying craft will be deployed from IKAROS just to take photos of the deployed sail. (Around 9:30.) K3wl.

Anyone know of an English-language (or translatable) resource that describes in detail what instruments/equipment (e.g., cameras, radios) are on board IKAROS? The press kit just mentioned is the best I've seen so far, but there's hints of stuff in the video that's not mentioned there (such as the aforementioned free-flyer).

I'm impressed how much functionality they've crammed onto the sail itself -- it's not just a passive sail, it has solar cells, a dust counter, "liquid crystal device that controls attitude by changing light reflection characteristics", etc. Hope it all works.

JAXA set to launch a solar sail technology demonstration mission:
space.com article: http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/ja...ion-100516.html

IKAROS has been spun up to 25 rpm in preparation for sail deployment within the next few days.
The counterweights that will draw out the sail masts have been deployed (see pictures in http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/ikaros_channel/bn004.html

Now(6/5 0:54 JST) IKAROS is drawing out the sail by the centrifugal force.
The sail is still bundled.
Please refer to the animation below URL.
The bundled sail has been extended to the opening drawing out passing about 10m.
It is a state of about 35 seconds of this animation now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mb47w0vB04...feature=related

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/?itemid=549
----from IKAROS blog (japanese) , translated by akibow-----
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) operated IKAROS (launched from Tanegashima Space Center on May 21, 2010(JST) until last night, and normally ended the second day of first-step of sale development.

However, there were some differences between the flight result and the simulation about development.
For more careful second development, we decided to examine the numerical value closely.

Therefore, the third day of first development and the second development is scheduled after Tuesday, June 8(JST).
We will announce schedule of the third day of first development and the second development as soon as we decides it.

The state of the explorer is excellent.

http://twitter.com/ikaroskun
----from IKAROS twitter (japanese) , translated by akibow-----
I'm telling many information to USUDA antenna.
They say that my movement is different from the simuration in pre-launch.
I am safe and energetic though movement seems to be different.

Argh. Thanks very much, Akibow.

The IKAROS team is going about the deployment slowly & cautiously, and that's eminently sensible. It's gonna be done right!

related article.
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002527/

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/?itemid=550

---translated by akibow---
TODAY'S IKAROS (6th,June)

IKAROS stands by with maintaing first development, length=5m or more.
Under this condition, the spin rate is increasing very slowly.
This is anxious for the developer of IKAROS , though is not an amount that becomes a problem.
it is the one about which it is anxious in a small symptom though it is not an amount that actually becomes a problem on because it is very slow.
The cause is not specified yet.
Many reasons are thought.
For instance, it is accelerated the rotation by the sunlight pressure like the pinwheel,
or an influence of the out gas or might be the one more by another factor.

We obsere this phenomenon by using this standby time. (Y)

6/6 IKAROS
Distance of the sun:1.04AU
Distance of the earth: 6,342,032km and right ascension =- 157.8° and celestial declinations =- 23.0°
Distance of Venus: 1.25AU
Posture: 7.4 rpm and spin rate = sun corner 15.0deg

my impression is that IKAROS, in its current semi-deployed status is just spinning up like a propeller due to solar radiation pressure, which in itself would be proof that the sail is working

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/?itemid=551
---- summary ---
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will execute the third day of first developnent and the second development.

June 8th evening-midnight (JST) : 3rd day of 1st development + 2nd development
June 9th evening-midnight (JST) : confirm development

second development is full expansion of sail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mb47w0vB04...feature=related

Sail Deployment Schedule for IKAROS

(SUCCESSFUL) June 2 (Wednesday) evening - midnight: pre-deployment check sail (motor and commissioning)

(SUCCESSFUL) June 3 (Thursday) evening - the night: the early development of first stage sail deployment

(SUCCESSFUL) June 4 (Friday) evening - midnight: Day 2 Official first stage sail deployment

June 08 (Tuesday) evening - midnight: Day 3 Official second (and final) stage sail deployment

Tuesday, June 09 (Wednesday) evening - midnight: Review of second stage sail deployment

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/

Another fascinating mission from JAXA :-) Hope it all goes well.

Can anyone tell me if it is planned to put IKAROS into orbit around Venus? Is it possible?
Or will there be a flyby?

Is there any information available about how much force/acceleration the sail experiences due to solar wind and radiation pressure?

Thanks and regards,
Brian

See here for an interesting idea
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=160641

Brian, the only info I've found is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKAROS which states "IKAROS will unfurl its sail several weeks after launch, then will spend six months traveling to Venus, and then will begin a three-year journey to the far side of the Sun." Their source was an article in the The Guardian Weekly http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/1...ros-japan-venus.

The Guardian article contains several errors so I'm not sure of its validity.

Believe it or not, the Guardian is correct.

IKAROS will deploy a small free-floating camera once its solar sail completely deploys (which hopefully already happened) to photograph the spacecraft in all her diamond-shaped (or square-shaped, depending on your POV) beauty... I gotta check online to see if it has a second camera onboard that it could deploy once it reaches Venus.

To have a wide shot of IKAROS in deep space, with Venus in the background would be one of the coolest space images, ever.

Lou said in an update from Japan that IKAROS does have two deployable cameras. I assumed both would be used right away to observe the sail after deployment. How close will IKAROS actually get to Venus? Any camera with a wide enough FOV to take in the deployed sail would probably only see Venus as a pretty small (and unbearably bright) light source, right?

Yup, particularly the unbearably bright part. Remember the automatic exposure control on LCROSS' live camera and the Moon isn't even that bright.

I suspect that it will depend on how steerable the craft turns out to be. It is an incredibly sexy space craft, using the solar sail for both power generation via the integrated thin film solar cells and for steering via integrated LCD panels to produce variable light pressure.

Edit; that's right, I saw the comment about IKAEOS' future in Lou's post and couldn't remember the link.

Not sure how to interpret it, but at the IKAROS twitter (translated with Google translator), IKAROS reports having been too tired to concentrate, and will try again tomorrow.

I saw that, but thought it just meant that it was the end of a long day of work. IKAROS only communicates through Usuda, so there's a window of time very late in the day Japan time when they do all their work. I interpreted that just as IKAROS signing off for the night.

That being said, I spoke with Lou Friedman on the phone a couple of hours ago and he said he wasn't sure they really commanded the final stage of deployment last night. I won't be really confident it happened until I see pictures.

Second stage sail deployment is scheduled to take place tomorrow...while IKAROS completed the full first stage deployment today

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/

It looks like full deployment of the boom structure was completed (i.e., first stage deployment), but from what I'm seeing on the IKAROS blog, the secondary deployment (the sail itself) should be ongoing. The most recent photo on the blog appears to show sail material.

Hum, the latest (6/9 @ 17:33) post on the blog indicates a fouled tether. (I think)

I hope you're wrong, but that photo looks troubling to me, too.

The planetary society blog has a nicer (and I hope correct) interpretation.

Much nicer, my Google translation came out;



Hopefully elakdawalla's interpretation is correct.

A google translation of the most recent IKAROS blog post.

Here's a much better translation of that photo caption, provided by Lionel Ward:

From the IKAROS blog via Google translator.

Success.

From the IKAROS blog.





Images.
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2010/06/20100611_ikaros_j.html#pict
http://www.jspec.jaxa.jp/ikaros_channel/bn005.html

While the sail doesn't really look deployed from this awkward angle, remember these cameras are near edge-on with the sail and there is a large gap between IKAROS and its sail.

Emily reports that the sail is fully deployed & IKAROS is power-positive; congratulations to the project and to JAXA!!!

This is truly historic; a pioneering first by any standard. Can hardly wait to hear how he (is IKAROS a he?) performs during his shakedown cruise!

All that needs to be done now is for IKAROS to deploy those two free-floating cameras and photograph the sail in all its beauty

Can't wait for the images from the free floating cameras.
Looking at that diagram above, it looks like the deployment-view cameras overlap, but it's a bit hard to find anything to match up in each image.
Rather than fudge it, here's a foreshortened polar view created from the four sail-deploy images with no overlap attempted.
Click to view attachment

I hope they deploy that free-floating camera soon. Totally looking forward to seeing IKAROS in all its kite-shaped beauty

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/i....php?itemid=595

Anyone notice the IKAROS twitter profile pic keeps getting sadder and sadder? It's practically crying a flood now. Hilarously cute.

Why would it be getting sadder? Is something not going well???

Maybe it's getting sadder 'cause it knows that brother Hayabusa most likely doesn't have any samples inside its capsule. I kid.

Mmm...close! According to my wife, the latest tweets are an imaginary conversation between IKAROS & Hayabusa (messages of encouragement for the latter.) Guess the tears are for Hayabusa-san's impending EOM.

IKAROS has stopped crying...while Akatsuki has been smiling the whole time. Must have had a beef with his older brother.

Looks like the first of two free-floating cameras (DCAM 2) will be deployed from IKAROS today

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/IKAROS-blog/?itemid=629

And the IKAROS Twitter avatar is happy again.

Seems free-floating DCAM2 has been released and the camera twitters here: http://twitter.com/DCAM2


Heh, Ikaros and DCAM2 are twittering about imaging.

Darn it. For some odd reason my Google toolbar won't automatically translate the DCAM2 Twitter page

Great picture of the fully deployed sail here (in case there's anyone at umsf.com who doesn't check Emily's blog several times a day.)

Are there any specs on how long the camera is expected to remain within wireless range? And what's the plan for the second camera? I like punkboi's suggestion of "a wide shot of IKAROS in deep space, with Venus in the background."

TTT

I've been wondering how long they'll stay near IKAROS as well. Also, do those things have some sort of attitude control? Can't figure out how they made sure that IKAROS stayed in the camera's FOV unless it was very precisely ejected.

Naw, the cameras don't have attitude control... They're gonna drift off into deep space after being released from IKAROS. Check out the Youtube link below... The DCAM floats off in a spiral fashion after it is ejected from IKAROS...which would explain why the spacecraft is off-center in the image (which I'll provide below...despite Tom helpfully providing a link to the TPS blog )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_6HOqBkP2o...player_embedded

Oh, okay, I get it now: The camera's actually spin-stabilized upon ejection. Thanks, PB!

Hi Brian,

I am not involved with the project myself, so someone should confirm the following:

If IKAROS is following (more or less) the same trajectory as Akatsuki, then it is not possible to insert in orbit around Venus.
The problem is that, although solar sails can in principle affect "large" changes in their speed (DV), they cannot do so quickly.
They are a bit like ion drives in that respect: they thrust gradually but continuously. To go into orbit around a planet,
you would need to gradually modify the sail's orbit around the sun using the solar radiation pressure force (SRPF)
until it is essentially identical to the planet's. I would imagine that, SRPF being quite flimsy a force, that process will take many years.

By the same token, however, the sail should flyby Venus at around the same time as Akatsuki enters orbit, probably at a distance
of several hundred thousand km or more. It could also be maneuvered to encounter near-Earth objects (asteroids or comets)
although I imagine that, for now, the technology demonstration objectives take priority over any other activity.

Regards,

Tolis.