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https://www.nasa.gov/

Half a century after the Apollo Program in 1969, NASA is aiming for the Moon once again with the Artemis Program. The first mission is to launch Artemis I at the Kennedy Space Center.

Ten CubeSats rideshare on Artemis I with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft. An extremely small spacecraft EQUULEUS is one of them. Koizumi Space Propulsion Lab. at Department of Advanced Energy and Yoshikawa-Yoshioka Lab. at Department of Complexity Science and Engineering contributed to the technology development of EQULEUS. We introduce comments from them.

Comments from Koizumi Space Propulsion Lab.

"We developed AQUARIUS (AQUA ResIstojet propUlsion System), the main engine of the EQUUEUS. It is scheduled to start operation upon the launch of Artemis I. AQUARIUS propels the EQUULEUS with water as the propellant and takes the trajectory control to send the probe toward the Moon by emitting vapor. The development of the system started in 2016 led by students. Over the years, many students engaged in the project and accomplished devising the system in 2021. Since then, the members have conducted simulations more than a year. Currently, the entire laboratory members are ready for the start of operation with two leaders of second-year master's students, FUJIORI Aoma and MORIAI Isamu and SEKINE Hokuto, Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering as the supervisor" says KOIZUMI Hiroyuki, Associate Professor at Department of Advanced Energy.

Koizumi Space Propulsion Lab.
http://www.al.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/koizumi/html/htdocs/

A model of AUARIUS, the Water Micro-resistojet Propulsion System (Photo by HONDA Ryusuke)

Comments from Yoshikawa-Yoshioka Lab.

"Our laboratory developed a special microcamera, PHOENIX to observe plasma in the vicinity of the Earth far from behind the Moon. To collect scientifically significant observation data, we attempted to equip PHOENIX with various worthwhile devices despite the peculiarly strict conditions of microprobes. We are waiting for the moment of launch hoping that all devices will function successfully and send us great observation data" says Lecturer YOSHIOKA Kazuo at Department of Complexity Science and Engineering.

Yoshikawa-Yoshioka Lab.
https://www.astrobio.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp/yoshikawa/en/

The extreme UV observation device, PHOENIX (Photo by HONDA Ryusuke)

LAUNCH SCHEDULE

Please catch up the latest news at the NASA website:

https://www.nasa.gov/

◆NASA Website

NASA Sets Coverage for Artemis I Moon Mission Next Launch Attempt (Sep 1, 2022)
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-artemis-i-moon-mission-next-launch-attempt

◆JAXA Website

https://www.jaxa.jp/

RELATED ARTICLE

Our school magazine SOSEI vol.39 covers space development research at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences.
SOSEI vol.39 "Reaching Space from Kashiwa"
https://www.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp/assets/files/sousei_d/39/html5.html#page=5