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Negai☆″ ("Wish"), also known asNegai*,[3] was a Japanesesatellite which launched in May 2010. It was a student-built spacecraft operated bySoka University and was intended to be atechnology demonstration.[4] The satellite was a single unitCubeSat, and was used to test a commercialfield programmable gate array in orbit.[3][5] As part of anoutreach programme, it carried the names of selected children involved in the program, along with wishes they have made. The satellite would return images of the Earth, which were given to the participants.[6]
The launch was conducted byMitsubishi Heavy Industries under contract to theJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency. In preparation for a planned launch on 17 May, theH-IIA rocket was rolled out to Pad 1 of theYoshinobu Launch Complex at theTanegashima Space Centre on 16 May 2010. It departed the assembly building at 21:01 UTC and arriving at the launch pad 24 minutes later at 21:25 UTC.[7] The terminal countdown began at 11:30 UTC on 17 May and by 15:28, the loading ofcryogenic propellant into the rocket's first and second stages had been completed.[7] The launch attempt was scrubbed a few minutes before liftoff due to bad weather, but took place successfully at 21:58:22 UTC on 20 May 2010.
Negai was deployed from aJAXA Picosatellite Deployer attached to the second stage of the H-IIA 202 rocket used in the launch of theAkatsuki spacecraft towardsVenus. Negai shared its dispenser with theK-Sat satellite, whilst a second dispenser containedWaseda-SAT2. The three CubeSats separated intolow Earth orbit (LEO) during acoast phase of the launch, between the first and second burns of the second stage. The rocket then continued to Heliocentric orbit, where it deployed Akatsuki, along with theIKAROS andUNITEC-1 spacecraft.[3]
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).
