Names | Solar-B |
---|---|
Operator | JAXA / NASA / PPARC |
COSPAR ID | 2006-041A |
SATCAT no. | 29479 |
Website | JAXA Hinode mission, NASA Hinode mission |
Mission duration | Elapsed: 18 years, 3 months and 1 day |
Spacecraft properties | |
Launch mass | 700 kg[1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 21:36:00, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[2] |
Rocket | M-V rocket |
Launch site | Uchinoura Space Center |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | sun-synchronous orbit |
Main | |
Wavelengths | Optical, X-ray, EUV |
Instruments | |
Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) X-ray Telescope (XRT) Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) | |
Hinode (/ˈhiːnoʊdeɪ/; Japanese: ひので, IPA: [çinode], Sunrise), formerly Solar-B, is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Solar mission with United States and United Kingdom collaboration. It is the follow-up to the Yohkoh (Solar-A) mission and it was launched on the final flight of the M-V rocket from Uchinoura Space Center, Japan on 22 September 2006 at 21:36 UTC (23 September, 06:36 JST). Initial orbit was perigee height 280 km, apogee height 686 km, inclination 98.3 degrees. Then the satellite maneuvered to the quasi-circular Sun-synchronous orbit over the day/night terminator, which allows near-continuous observation of the Sun. On 28 October 2006, the probe's instruments captured their first images.
The data from Hinode are being downloaded to the Norwegian, terrestrial Svalsat station, operated by Kongsberg a few kilometres west of Longyearbyen, Svalbard. From there, data is transmitted by Telenor through a fibre-optic network to mainland Norway at Harstad, and on to data users in North America, Europe and Japan.