SDS 4

SDS 4 [JAXA]

SDS 4 (Small Demonstration Satellite 4) is a small technology experiment satellite developed by JAXA.

As SDS-1, this small satellite (a cube of 50 kg and 50 cm edge, with a 120 W power available) will test several promising technologies. Unlike the SDS-1 satellite attitude SDS-4 can be controlled on its 3-axis pointing toward the Sun in normal operation phase and to Earth at nadir during his experimental phase. SDS-4 to be launched in 2011 with the GCOM-W1 satellite, and placed on a sun-synchronous orbit at 677 km altitude.

SDS-4 will carry four technology validation missions:

• FOX (FHP On-orbit Experiment) will validate the new orbit flat heat pipes for future thermal control systems for satellites.
• IST (In-flight experiment of Space Materials using THERME) characterize the degradation of thermal control materials, using the component THERME provided by the French space agency.
• QCM (Quartz Crystal Microbalance) will characterize a quartz microbalance developed by the scientific division of JAXA (ISAS), a component that will be useful to develop future sensors that will measure internal contamination.
• SPAISE (Space-based Automatic Identification System Experiment), an experiment of receiving AIS (Automatic Identification System) signals from ships, with two dedicated antennas.