posted 03-27-2018 09:31 PM               

We aim to produce artificial shooting stars by projecting particles, made out of special materials, from orbiting micro-satellites. When the particles re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, they burn through a process known as plasma emission, creating the appearance of shooting stars on the ground. The particles burn with a sufficient brightness to be visible by people in an area upto 200km in diameter.

posted 01-16-2019 07:12 PM               

World's first satellite to create manmade meteor shower completed

ALE Co., Ltd., the Tokyo-based space venture company which is led by its CEO and founder Lena Okajima, has recently announced that they will be launching their first satellite on January 17, 2019, after 7 years of research and development. This satellite will take a ride on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Epsilon Rocket #4 for the journey to space.

ALE aims to realize the world's first man made meteor with its own satellites, including this one.

ALE, selected for JAXA's "Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program"

The ALE's satellite will be sent to space on Epsilon Rocket 4, as part of JAXA's "Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program". The program is intended to provide components, instruments, microsatellites and cubesats designed by universities and businesses as a chance to demonstrate their functionalities in space. The Epsilon Rocket for this program will include 7 satellites, one being ALE's first satellite.

ALE's first satellites will (1) investigate feasibility of man made meteors and its marketability, (2) obtain data about the earth's upper atmosphere such as density, wind direction, composition by observing the man made meteors, and (3) understand how the re-entry can change and affect the meteor's trajectory. These 3 topics will further carve out new possibilities in space development.

The Epsilon Rocket 4 is scheduled to launch from JAXA's Uchinoura Space Observatory in Kagoshima Japan on Jan. 17, 2019.

ALE ensured safe release of meteor source in collaboration with JAXA

The mission of the ALE's first satellite is to release objects from the satellite to generate meteors. Because no one else has attempted this challenge before, there has been no safety guidelines implemented for a mission of this type. To tackle this challenge, ALE and JAXA held multiple safety discussions and workshops to determine an adequate safety standard for the mission which would minimize potential effects on other earth-orbiting satellites.

As a result of the discussions, the satellite has a triple redundant attitude determination system. The satellite's attitude is a critical aspect of overall accuracy for meteor source release and a triple redundant system will be the primary safety measure to ensure that a release at an incorrect position/direction will not occur. As such, the system was designed so that the meteor release will occur only if three independent CPUs agree on the satellite's attitude. Compared to the safety features of other microsatellites, the feature implemented in ALE's satellite is significantly enhanced.

posted 11-07-2019 08:46 AM               

Next Up: ALE's Sky Canvas Mission

Our next Rocket Lab mission (our third with them this year) is a very exciting one. We're launching ALE's Sky Canvas, the world's first man-made shooting star project that also has a scientific research component. It's with these first-of-their-kind missions that we bring all our experience to bear for our customers. This type of mission was years in the making and demonstrates the unique benefits of rideshare.

The Tokyo-based ALE spacecraft, named ALE-2, will create man-made shooting stars by safely releasing particles that will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, burning up and creating the appearance of shooting stars. The mission will also study the path and mechanics of shooting star particles during re-entry from the upper atmosphere. The data collected will help predict the path of satellites and artificial objects as well as contributing to scientific understanding in several technology fields including meteorology and the study of climate change.

This mission took years of analysis and rigorous review. Josh Rodenbaugh, ALE's launch campaign manager, worked closely with the Spaceflight team as a mission of this type had never been done before. ALE had already worked through the Japanese Space Agency who had conducted a rigorous review for the launch of ALE-1 earlier this year. ALE also met with other countries' space agencies and even astronomers to work through any concerns around this unique mission. Spaceflight helped the company get the necessary permits through the New Zealand Space Agency, and worked with Rocket Lab to ensure a smooth integration process (which will begin in the next week or so). We are always happy to advocate for our customers and support new uses for satellites – opening up access to space for new business models is part of our corporate mission.

Spaceflight began working with ALE more than three years ago. They were originally slated to launch on an earlier mission ... and then were rescheduled on a later mission. When they had readied their spacecraft, we were able to re-manifest them on an earlier launch opportunity with Rocket Lab. This mission, slated for late November, is named "RL-2" by Spaceflight and "Running Out of Fingers" by Rocket Lab as a nod to their tenth flight.

Tony Frego, the Spaceflight Mission Director who has been working with ALE since the beginning, commented, "For me, this is a hugely significant mission. I'm always looking forward to seeing our customers be successful, but ALE is one of those unique spacecraft, where I'll actually get to see the success — the meteors — with my own eyes."