wraggster
September 14th, 2013, 22:30
Sky News reports that the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) has launched an orbital telescope on a new generation rocket from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima, in southwestern Japan. The Epsilon rocket uses an onboard AI for autonomous launch checks (http://news.sky.com/story/1141644/japans-laptop-controlled-space-rocket-launch) by the rocket itself (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOm-x7Mjyio). A product of renewed focus on reducing costs, the new vehicle required two laptops and a launch team of eight, compared to the 150 people needed to launch the previous platform, the M-5. Because of the reduced launch team and ease of construction, production and launch costs of the Epsilon are roughly half that of the M-5 (http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/14/us-japan-rocket-launch-idINBRE98D02720130914?mlt_click=Master+Sponsor+Log o(Active)_25_More+News_sec-col1-m1_News). The payload, a SPRINT-A telescope, is designed for planetary observation."
http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/09/14/1521229/japan-controls-rocket-launch-with-just-8-people-and-2-laptops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOm-x7Mjyio). A product of renewed focus on reducing costs, the new vehicle required two laptops and a launch team of eight, compared to the 150 people needed to launch the previous platform, the M-5. Because of the reduced launch team and ease of construction, production and launch costs of the Epsilon are roughly half that of the M-5 (http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/09/14/us-japan-rocket-launch-idINBRE98D02720130914?mlt_click=Master+Sponsor+Log o(Active)_25_More+News_sec-col1-m1_News). The payload, a SPRINT-A telescope, is designed for planetary observation."
http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/09/14/1521229/japan-controls-rocket-launch-with-just-8-people-and-2-laptops