The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Wednesday it has completed operations of the first unit of its HTV-X series International Space Station resupply spacecraft, which re-entered the atmosphere late Tuesday Japan time.
The vehicle, called HTV-X1, is believed to have burned up over the South Pacific.
After being launched by an H3 rocket in October last year, the HTV-X1 delivered supplies to the ISS and then carried out missions in orbit around the Earth in and after March this year, including the release of a microsatellite, deployment tests for lightweight panels equipped with antennas and trials of next-generation space solar cells.
¡°All planned missions succeeded and yielded valuable technological findings,¡± JAXA project manager Norimasa Ito told an online briefing.
The HTV-X, an upgraded version of JAXA¡¯s nine-flight HTV series, dubbed Kounotori, is capable of carrying out post-ISS missions, such as experiments and observations, at various altitudes for a long period.
The microsatellite released by the HTV-X1 was Ten-Koh 2, developed by Japan¡¯s Nihon University.
In addition, lasers were fired from the Earth to three reflectors installed on the spacecraft to observe its attitude fluctuations.
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