Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS) or Tsubame was a
orbital altitudes. It was launched on 23 December 2017, and decommissioned on 1 October 2019.[1]
The spacecraft was equipped with sensors to determine
atomic oxygen density, an exposure facility to measure material degradation in the 200 km orbit, and a small camera.[2] Initial designs had conventional, though slightly canted, solar panels (compare to the aerodynamic shape and on-body solar panels of GOCE, which flew in a 255 km orbit). SLATS received the nickname Tsubame (Japanese for barn swallow) on 14 July 2017.[3]
According to JAXA, this name was chosen as the thin, elongated satellite in super low orbit with a set of solar array wings was reminiscent of a small swallow flying low.
SLATS was launched 23 December 2017 on a
GCOM-C (Shikisai) satellite to a 630 km orbit, followed by orbit-lowering manoeuvres by a combination of chemical propulsion and aerobraking, with final operation at an altitude below 180 km.[4]
SLATS was operated at 7 altitudes: 271.5 and 216.8 km each for 38 days, and 250, 240, 230, 181.1 and 167.4 km each for 7 days.[5] At 167.4 km the RCS thrusters were used in addition to the ion thruster to maintain altitude.[5]
The operation of the satellite was finished on 30 September 2019, and it was decommissioned in orbit on 1 October 2019 by terminating the communication radio and power.[1] The satellite deorbited 1 October 2019.[6]
On 30 December 2019, Guinness World Records recognized Tsubame's achievement, which reached the lowest altitude ever among Earth observation satellites.[7]
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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