Nano-JASMINE

Nano-JASMINE [NAO]

Nano-JASMINE (Nano-Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for Infrared Exploration) is the technical demonstrator for the JASMINE mission, and also the first space astrometry satellite mission in Japan. It will be launched at Nov. 2013 from Alcantara Launch Center at Brazil on a Tsiklon-4 rocket.

The Nano-JASMINE project is planned to demonstrate for the first time the capability for space astrometry in Japan and to perform experiments for verifications of techniques and operations planned for Small-JASMINE and JASMINE. Nano-JASMINE is a nano-size satellite of which the size and weight are (50 cm)³ and about 35 kg, respectively. Nano-JASMINE will operate in the zw-band (0.6 – 1.0 µm). The target accuracy of parallaxes is about 3 milliarcseconds at zw=7.5 mag. Moreover high-accuracy proper motions (0.1 milliarcseconds/year) can be obtained by combining the Nano-JASMINE catalogue with the Hipparcos catalogue, as the decrease in the error of the proper motions is proportional to the inverse of the epoch difference between the two catalogues which for Hipparcos and the Nano-JASMINE catalogues will exceed 20 years.

It was decided that Nano-JASMINE will be launched in FY2013 at the Alcantara space center in Brazil by a Tsiklon-4 rocket developed in Ukraine. Nano-JASMINE was to be put in a Sun-synchronized orbit with the altitude of about 800 km. With the demise of the Tsiklon-4, an alternative launch provider was sought. A launch on a Soyuz-ST-A Fregat-M together with CSG 1 and ESA's CHEOPS was planned, but did not take place.