[New to the Journey?  Read this for a brief introduction!]

by Kaye Dee

An aerial view of the Expo 70 site in Osaka

In just three weeks, on 15 March, World Expo 1970 will open in Osaka, Japan, the first time that a world’s fair has been held in Asia. This event is intended to welcome the world to Japan as a celebration of the massive strides the country has made in national re-development since the War. One of Japan’s latest achievements took place only two weeks ago – the launch of its first satellite!

Yes, Japan has now joined the Space Club, as the first Asian nation to put a satellite into orbit. Not only that, but Japan becomes only the fourth country to have launched its own satellite using a home-grown launch vehicle!

The small satellite, named Ohsumi for the peninsula on the island of Kyushu from which it was launched, was lofted on a four-stage Lambda 4S solid-fuel rocket on 11 February. The launch site, known as the Kagoshima Space Centre, is located in Kagoshima Prefecture at the southernmost end of the island of Kyushu, near Uchinoura. It’s been the home of Japan’s space launch activities since 1962.

At this point, you are probably thinking that you’ve never heard anything before about Japanese space activity – and that would be no surprise, as the Western media, unfortunately, pays little attention to Asian nations outside of reporting on conflicts and (supposed) Communist threats. So you might be surprised to know that Japanese interest in space exploration goes back to the mid-1950s.

"The Father of the Space Rocket"

Prof. Hideo Itokawa around 1961

Japan’s equivalent of Wernher von Braun, and the driving force behind its first decade of rocket research, was Professor Hideo Itokawa, whose influence on Japan's space programme has been so profound that he's known as "the father of the space rocket". Born in 1912, Prof. Itokawa studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Tokyo. During the War he designed military aircraft, contributing to the design of the “Hayabusa” (peregrine falcon) fighter plane, known by the Allied designation of “Oscar”.

But with the initial post-War dismantling of the Japanese aviation industry, Prof. Itokawa was forced to seek a new career, and he worked for several years developing electronic medical instruments. On a visit to the United States in 1953, he happened to read a treatise on space medicine and became inspired by the idea of developing a Japanese space programme! On returning to Japan, he joined the newly re-established Aviation Department at the University of Tokyo and commenced research in rocket development.

Prof. Itokawa moved swiftly to engage both university students and Japanese industry in his dream of spaceflight, and by early 1954, solid rocket propellants were under development, and he had formed a rocket research group at the university called AVSA (Avionics and Supersonic Aerodynamics). 

From Pencil Rockets to Sounding Rockets

With a small research budget, Prof. Itokawa developed a series of tiny test rockets, which culminated in the “Pencil”. Just 23cm (9.1in) long, 1.8cm (0.71in) in diameter and weighing only 200g (7.01oz), AVSA Pencil rockets were launched horizontally, instead of vertically. The first test launch of a Pencil occurred on 11 March 1955, followed by a public test on 12 April at a firing range in Kokubunji, Tokyo, with observers including government officials and the press.

Prof. Itokawa during the first Pencil rocket tests. A Pencil sits on the floor in front of him, and he is inserting a stick of solid fuel into the base of another rocket

Constantly experimenting and pushing the technology, as Prof. Itokawa’s rockets grew larger the university established a new launch facility at Michikawa Beach, Akita Prefecture, Honshu, facing the Sea of Japan. Rockets were launched here from August 1955 until 1962, when the present Kagoshima site was established.

A 1954 preparatory meeting for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) (1957-1958) had proposed the use of sounding rockets for conducting research into the upper atmosphere. This idea interested the Japanese delegation, and the United States offered to allow Japan to use American sounding rockets. However, the Japanese Ministry of Education, responsible for the national IGY programme, hoped to develop a locally-built sounding rocket.

A newspaper article by Prof. Itokawa in January 1955, on the potential of rapid rocket travel across the Pacific Ocean, had impressed the IGY co-ordinator at the Ministry of Education. He commissioned the AVSA group to develop a sounding rocket capable of carrying scientific instruments into the upper atmosphere.

The newspaper article that attracted the attention of the Ministry of Education. The rocket in the photo was apparently a small paper model built by one of Itokawa's students, carefully photographed to appear like a real test rocket!

The Kappa Sounding Rocket

The IGY organising body had proposed 60-100 kilometres (38- 62 miles) as a minimum research altitude for sounding rockets, so, commencing in 1956, AVSA began a crash programme to develop its “Kappa” sounding rocket, which would be capable of achieving those altitudes using Japanese-developed solid propellants.

A Kappa K-6 sounding rocket launched during the IGY

Rapid development meant that, by June 1958, a Kappa K-6 rocket successfully carried instruments to the target minimum altitude of 60km, conducting observations of upper atmosphere winds, temperature and cosmic rays. By 1960, the K-8 sounding rocket was capable of reaching heights of 435 miles, comparable with many US sounding rockets, and attracting the attention of NASA.

Plans for a National Satellite

1962 was a watershed year for the Japanese space programme, with the decision taken to launch a 30 kilogram (66lb) satellite into orbit within five years. With larger Kappa sounding rockets under development, and plans to turn the Lambda rocket (in development since 1960) into a satellite launch vehicle, the current Kagoshima Space Centre was established for these larger launchers that needed a longer downrange area. 
A three-stage K-9 sounding rocket capable of reaching altitudes of over 600 miles

Lambda sounding rockets commenced test flights in 1963. The fourth stage needed to turn the Lambda 3 sounding rocket into the 54 ft Lambda 4S satellite launcher was developed by the Prince Motor Company, which merged with Nissan in 1966. It’s interesting to note that Lambda rockets do not have guidance systems, as they would then have the potential to be converted for offensive military use. This could be interpreted as a violation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which prohibits Japan’s involvement in war, and consequently the development of offensive weaponry. I wonder if this will have an impact on the development of larger, more capable Japanese satellite launch vehicles in the future?

In 1964, the University of Tokyo's Institute of Aeronautics and AVSA (which was part of the university's Institute of Industrial Science) were merged into a new body, the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (ISAS) attached to the university.

Lambda 4S rocket ready for the first satellite launch attempt Two attempts were made to launch Japan’s first satellite in 1966, but both were unsuccessful due to fourth-stage failures. A third attempt in 1967 failed, as did a fourth in 1969.

During this difficult period, Prof. Itokawa abruptly resigned from ISAS in 1967. The reasons for his departure from the programme he worked so hard to build are not clear. Was he discouraged by the satellite launch failures? I have heard from a WRE colleague who was recently in Japan that there is a rumour he may have resigned in frustration at pressure from the United States for Japan to abandon its launcher development programme and use US vehicles instead. However, I wonder if that can be true, since there has been technological cooperation between Japan and the United States on the Ohsumi project, particularly in the development of highly efficient batteries that do not lose power at high temperatures.

In Orbit at Last

Despite the earlier failures, persistence has paid off, and on the fifth attempt Ohsumi soared into orbit. The launch trajectory successfully employed a “gravity turn manoeuvre” to place the satellite into its elliptical orbit, with an apogee of 3191.4 miles and a perigee of 326.2 miles.

Ohsumi ready for launch. This time for sure!

Intended as a demonstration of technical capability, Ohsumi was essentially built into the nosecone of the rocket. It went into orbit with the fourth stage motor still attached to it (a design concept not unlike that used for Australia’s first satellite, WRESAT). The launcher and satellite together are said to have cost 120 million yen (AUS$298,000).

The small 84lb satellite is about 3 ft long and consists of an roughly conical aluminium instrument capsule, shaped as a 26-sided polygonal prism, attached to the spherical, titanium-cased solid motor. It has two hook-type antennae and four beryllium-copper whip antennae. 5,184 solar cells on the satellite provided power to the batteries. The 24lb instrumented payload includes instruments to measure the ionosphere, gathering data on solar emission, temperature, and density. It also carries engineering testing equipment consisting of a "precise accelerometer", an additional accelerometer, strain gauge-type thermometer, telemetry transmitter, beacon transmitter, pilot transmitter, and a radio beacon transmitter.

Note that the dimensions on this diagram are given in millimetres, not inches

A Short Life

Two and a half hours after launch, mission control at the Kagoshima Space Centre received signals from Ohsumi, confirming that it had completed its first full orbit. However, the mission ended about 15 hours later, on 12 February, during the satellite’s seventh orbit, following a sudden loss of power that ended any radio transmission from the satellite. The cause of the failure is presently unknown. However, although Ohsumi may be “dead”, it is expected to continue in orbit for several decades before it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

What Comes Next for Japan in Space?

Ohsumi was only a basic test satellite, and Japanese scientists are said to be planning to launch the nation's first full-scale scientific later this year. Reports are that, by 1975, Japan hopes to be able to able to launch an experimental communications satellite into geostationary orbit, as well as navigation and geodetic satellites. According to Aviation Week and Space Technology: “If successful, and if the funding to support it is forthcoming, [Japan’s] satellite and booster technology will outstrip that of the older programs of western Europe, placing Japan third in line behind the U.S. and the Soviet Union.” It will be exciting to see just how far Japan can develop its space ambitions in the next decade!

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[New to the Journey?  Read this for a brief introduction!]

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