Author name code: sako ADS astronomy entries on 2022-09-14 author:"Sako, Nobuharu" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Title: Constraining hot plasma in a non-flaring solar active region with FOXSI hard X-ray observations Authors: Ishikawa, Shin-nosuke; Glesener, Lindsay; Christe, Steven; Ishibashi, Kazunori; Brooks, David H.; Williams, David R.; Shimojo, Masumi; Sako, Nobuharu; Krucker, Säm Bibcode: 2014PASJ...66S..15I Altcode: 2015arXiv150905288I; 2014PASJ..tmp..102I We present new constraints on the high-temperature emission measure of a non-flaring solar active region using observations from the recently flown Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) sounding rocket payload. FOXSI has performed the first focused hard X-ray (HXR) observation of the Sun in its first successful flight on 2012 November 2. Focusing optics, combined with small strip detectors, enable high-sensitivity observations with respect to previous indirect imagers. This capability, along with the sensitivity of the HXR regime to high-temperature emission, offers the potential to better characterize high-temperature plasma in the corona as predicted by nanoflare heating models. We present a joint analysis of the differential emission measure (DEM) of active region 11602 using coordinated observations by FOXSI, Hinode/XRT, and Hinode/EIS. The Hinode-derived DEM predicts significant emission measure between 1 MK and 3 MK, with a peak in the DEM predicted at 2.0-2.5 MK. The combined XRT and EIS DEM also shows emission from a smaller population of plasma above 8 MK. This is contradicted by FOXSI observations that significantly constrain emission above 8 MK. This suggests that the Hinode DEM analysis has larger uncertainties at higher temperatures and that > 8 MK plasma above an emission measure of 3 × 1044 cm-3 is excluded in this active region. Title: The Three-dimensional Analysis of Hinode Polar Jets using Images from LASCO C2, the Stereo COR2 Coronagraphs, and SMEI Authors: Yu, H. -S.; Jackson, B. V.; Buffington, A.; Hick, P. P.; Shimojo, M.; Sako, N. Bibcode: 2014ApJ...784..166Y Altcode: Images recorded by the X-ray Telescope on board the Hinode spacecraft are used to provide high-cadence observations of solar jetting activity. A selection of the brightest of these polar jets shows a positive correlation with high-speed responses traced into the interplanetary medium. LASCO C2 and STEREO COR2 coronagraph images measure the coronal response to some of the largest jets, and also the nearby background solar wind velocity, thereby giving a determination of their speeds that we compare with Hinode observations. When using the full Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) data set, we track these same high-speed solar jet responses into the inner heliosphere and from these analyses determine their mass, flow energies, and the extent to which they retain their identity at large solar distances. Title: A Statistical Study of Coronal Active Events in the North Polar Region Authors: Sako, Nobuharu; Shimojo, Masumi; Watanabe, Tetsuya; Sekii, Takashi Bibcode: 2013ApJ...775...22S Altcode: In order to study the relationship between characteristics of polar coronal active events and the magnetic environment in which such events take place, we analyze 526 X-ray jets and 1256 transient brightenings in the polar regions and in regions around the equatorial limbs. We calculate the occurrence rates of these polar coronal active events as a function of distance from the boundary of coronal holes, and find that most events in the polar quiet regions occur adjacent to and equatorward of the coronal hole boundaries, while events in the polar coronal holes occur uniformly within them. Based primarily on the background intensity, we define three categories of regions that produce activity: polar coronal holes, coronal hole boundary regions, and polar quiet regions. We then investigate the properties of the events produced in these regions. We find no significant differences in their characteristics, for example, length and lifetime, but there are differences in the occurrence rates. The mean occurrence rate of X-ray jets around the boundaries of coronal holes is higher than that in the polar quiet regions, equatorial quiet regions, and polar coronal holes. Furthermore, the mean occurrence rate of transient brightenings is also higher in these regions. We make comparison with the occurrence rates of emerging and canceling magnetic fields in the photosphere reported in previous studies, and find that they do not agree with the occurrence rates of transient brightenings found in this study. Title: Polar Field Reversal Observations with Hinode Authors: Shiota, D.; Tsuneta, S.; Shimojo, M.; Sako, N.; Orozco Suarez, D.; Ishikawa, R. Bibcode: 2012AGUFMSH13C2274S Altcode: We have been monitoring yearly variation in the Sun's polar magnetic fields with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode to record their evolution and expected reversal near the solar maximum. All magnetic patches in the magnetic flux maps are automatically identified to obtain the number density and magnetic flux density as a function of the total magnetic flux per patch. The detected magnetic flux per patch ranges over four orders of magnitude (10^15 -- 10^20 Mx). The higher end of the magnetic flux in the polar regions is about one order of magnitude larger than that of the quiet Sun, and nearly that of pores. Almost all large patches ( > 10^18 Mx) have the same polarity, while smaller patches have a fair balance of both polarities. The polarity of the polar region as a whole is consequently determined only by the large magnetic concentrations. A clear decrease in the net flux of the polar region is detected in the slow rising phase of the current solar cycle. The decrease is more rapid in the north polar region than in the south. The decrease in the net flux is caused by a decrease in the number and size of the large flux concentrations as well as the appearance of patches with opposite polarity at lower latitudes. In contrast, we do not see temporal change in the magnetic flux associated with the smaller patches ( < 10^18 Mx) and that of the horizontal magnetic fields during the years 2008--2012. Title: Statistical Study of X-ray Jets in the Polar Region Authors: Sako, N.; Shimojo, M.; Kitabayashi, T. Bibcode: 2012ASPC..454..153S Altcode: We detected 848 polar X-ray jets occurred in the north polar region, and investigated the characteristics of the jets statistically. The 470 jets of them occurred in the coronal hole. The occurrence rate of the jets in the coronal hole and the quiet region are 5.04×10-12 jets/hr/km2 and 7.66×10-12 jets/hr/km2, respectively. We derived five parameters of the polar X-ray jets. The averaged values of the parameters are 2.91×104 km for the maximum length, 4.42×103 km for the width, 608 sec for the lifetime and 180 km/sec for the apparent velocity. If we assume that the frequency distribution of the lifetime and the footpoint flare show the power-law distributions, and the index is -1.80 ± 0.20 in the coronal hole and -1.84 ± 0.17 in the quiet region. The frequency distribution is steeper than that of the previous works. Title: Polar Field Reversal Observations with Hinode Authors: Shiota, D.; Tsuneta, S.; Shimojo, M.; Sako, N.; Orozco Suárez, D.; Ishikawa, R. Bibcode: 2012ApJ...753..157S Altcode: 2012arXiv1205.2154S We have been monitoring yearly variation in the Sun's polar magnetic fields with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode to record their evolution and expected reversal near the solar maximum. All magnetic patches in the magnetic flux maps are automatically identified to obtain the number density and magnetic flux density as a function of the total magnetic flux per patch. The detected magnetic flux per patch ranges over four orders of magnitude (1015-1020 Mx). The higher end of the magnetic flux in the polar regions is about one order of magnitude larger than that of the quiet Sun, and nearly that of pores. Almost all large patches (>=1018 Mx) have the same polarity, while smaller patches have a fair balance of both polarities. The polarity of the polar region as a whole is consequently determined only by the large magnetic concentrations. A clear decrease in the net flux of the polar region is detected in the slow rising phase of the current solar cycle. The decrease is more rapid in the north polar region than in the south. The decrease in the net flux is caused by a decrease in the number and size of the large flux concentrations as well as the appearance of patches with opposite polarity at lower latitudes. In contrast, we do not see temporal change in the magnetic flux associated with the smaller patches (<1018 Mx) and that of the horizontal magnetic fields during the years 2008-2012. Title: A preliminary study of the HOP-187 jet analysis Authors: Jackson, B.; Yu, H. -S.; Buffington, A.; Clover, J.; Shimojo, M.; Sako, N. Bibcode: 2012decs.confE.111J Altcode: The Hinode Observing Proposal (HOP)-187, "Tracking X-ray Jets from the Solar Surface to Interplanetary Space" (Jackson and Shimojo, 2011) was carried out successfully during the summer of 2011. On two occasions (00-06 UT 17 June, 2011, and 00-08 UT 22 August 2011) XRT observations were run at a higher cadence over the south polar region in conjunction with LASCO C2 observations that also provided an enhanced 5-minute cadence and 100-sec exposures from this instrument. This campaign effort was joined by the NASA SDO AIA, the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) Coronagraph (COR II) and Heliospheric Imagers (HI's), ground-based interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations from the Solar Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STELab) and Ootacamund (Ooty), India, and finally data from the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI). In this data analysis, as in previous campaign-mode operations of the Hinode XRT instrument, we find a positive correlation between the brightest of the polar jets and a high-speed response traced into the interplanetary medium. Here, we report on the preliminary measurements of the jet responses that were observed during this successful HOP-187 campaign. Title: New loss-process for accelerated electrons around the flare loop-top? Authors: Goto, T.; Masuda, S.; Miyoshi, Y.; Minoshima, T.; Nishimura, Y.; Anan, T.; Sako, N.; Matsui, Y. Bibcode: 2011AGUFMSH41A1895G Altcode: Nonthermal emissions - hard X-rays, gamma-rays and microwave - from loop-top sources of solar flares are related to acceleration/transportation processes of electrons under the magnetic reconnection point. So in order to understand these processes, it is important to study temporal and spatial variations of loop-top sources by using data of multiwavelength observation. We studied an M3.7 class flare which occurred on Jul. 27, 2005. This flare took place behind the limb. So we can see only loop-top source itself without any effects of emissions from the footpoints. We used two frequency data of Nobeyama Radio Heliograph (NoRH; 17GHz and 34GHz, both of them are emitted by MeV electrons). According to a simulation (Minoshima et al. 2011), we expected that loop-top microwave source of 34GHz is located lower than that of 17GHz, because higher energy electrons which emit 34GHz microwave can reach to a lower altitude with less collisions during the transportation. But we got a result that the loop-top source of 34GHz was located higher than that of 17GHz during the whole period of the flare. This result might suggest that additional loss process selectively works for the higher-energy electrons emitting 34GHz. To know whether such a process really exists, we investigated decay time-scale of light curve in some emission regions. At a low-altitude region, the decay time-scale is explainable in terms of Coulomb scattering. But at a high-altitude region, higher-energy electrons which emit 34GHz microwave decrease faster than expected by Coulomb scattering. So this suggests that there are some different scattering processes at a high-altitude region. However, still the decay time-scale of 34GHz is a little longer than that of 17GHz, we cannot explain the height difference between the 17GHz and 34GHz loop-top sources in only scattering processes. We need to consider the spectral variation of accelerated /injected electrons like so-called soft-hard-soft variation. Title: Observations of Polar-Region Jets and Their Manifestations in the Solar Wind Authors: Jackson, Bernard V.; Clover, John M.; Hick, P. Paul; Buffington, Andrew; Linford, John C.; Shimojo, Masumi; Sako, Nobuharu Bibcode: 2011shin.confE.170J Altcode: High-cadence images taken by the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard Hinode (Solar B), have shown that X-ray jets occur at very high frequency over the polar regions of the Sun. Only the brightest of these explosive events had been previously observed. It is possible that Alfven waves generated by jets contribute greatly to the acceleration of the solar wind; each jet provides a conduit for Alfven waves that add significant energy to the corona by spreading outward from these localized areas on the Sun. Here we explore the manifestations of the jet response in the solar wind using observations from Hinode, the LASCO coronagraph, and from 3D tomographic observations at greater heights above the Sun. We attempt to quantify the jet response in the interplanetary medium from these measurements, and to explore the diminution of this response with solar radius. Title: Statistical study of the polar X-ray jets Authors: Sako, Nobuharu; Shimojo, Masumi; Kitabayashi, Teruyuki Bibcode: 2010cosp...38.2843S Altcode: 2010cosp.meet.2843S The X-Ray Telescope(XRT) abroad Hinode had revealed that X-ray jets in the polar region occur at the high frequency. Savcheva et al. (2007) studied 104 X-ray jets occurred around the south pole and reported the parameters of the jets. However, their study included only the X-ray jets that occurred in the coronal hole. In order to reveal the properties of the polar X-ray jets in not only the coronal hole but also the quiet region, we detected 870 polar X-ray jets occurred around the north pole, and investigated the jets statistically. The 470 jets in the 848 events occurred in the coronal hole. The occurrence rate of the jets in the coronal hole and the quiet sun is 5.04×10-12 jets/hr/km2 and 7.66×10-12 jets/hr/km2 , respectively. It shows that the quiet region is more productive of X-ray jets than the coronal hole. We derived five parameters of the polar X-ray jets, and the average of the parameters are 2.91×104 km for the maximum length, 4.42×103 km for the width, and 180 km/sec for the apparent velocity. The lifetime and length scale of the jets in this result is smaller than that in Savcheva et al. (2007). The reason for these differences is that we could detect smaller jets than the previous work because we used not only X-ray intensity images but also the running difference images for detecting the jets. We derived also the frequency distributions of the parameters and found thatthe frequency distributions of the lifetime and the X-ray intensity of the footpoint flare show the power-raw distribution. The power-law index of the lifetime is -4.22±0.36, and it is smaller than the index(-1.2) derived from the jets that occurred near the active regions(Shimojo et al. 1996). The difference indicates that the occurrence rate of the polar X-ray jets with short lifetime is larger than that of the X-ray jets that occurred near active regions.On the other hand, the power-raw index of the X-ray intensity of the footpoint flare is -2.04±0.27. The index is smaller than that of the X-ray jets near the active regions(Shimojo et al. 1996). Title: A Star Image Extractor for the Nano-JASMINE satellite Authors: Yamauchi, M.; Gouda, N.; Kobayashi, Y.; Tsujimoto, T.; Yano, T.; Suganuma, M.; Yamada, Y.; Nakasuka, S.; Sako, N. Bibcode: 2008IAUS..248..294Y Altcode: We have developped a software of Star-Image-Extractor (SIE) which works as the on-board real-time image processor. It detects and extracts only the object data from raw image data. SIE has two functions: reducing image data and providing data for the satellite's high accuracy attitude control system. Title: The current status of the Nano-JASMINE project Authors: Kobayashi, Y.; Gouda, N.; Yano, T.; Suganuma, M.; Yamauchi, M.; Yamada, Y.; Sako, N.; Nakasuka, S. Bibcode: 2008IAUS..248..270K Altcode: Nano-JASMINE is a nano-size astrometry satellite that will carry out astrometry measurements of nearby bright stars for more than one year. This will enable us to detect annual parallaxes of stars within 300 pc from the Sun. We expect the satellite to be launched as a piggy-back system as early as in 2009 into a Sun synchronized orbit at the altitude between 500 and 800 km. Being equipped with a beam combiner, the satellite has a capability to observe two different fields simultaneously and will be able to carry out HIPPARCOS-type observations along great circles. A 5 cm all aluminum made reflecting telescope with a aluminum beam combiner is developed. Using the on-board CCD controller, experiments with a real star have been executed. A communication band width is insufficient to transfer all imaging data, hence, we developed an onboard data processing system that extracts stellar image data from vast amount of imaging data. A newly developed 2K × 1K fully-depleted CCD will be used for the mission. It will work in the time delayed integration(TDI) mode. The bus system has been designed with special consideration of the following two points. Those are the thermal stabilization of the telescope and the accuracy of the altitude control. The former is essential to achieve high astrometric accuracies, on the order of 1 mas. Therefore relative angle of the beam combiner must be stable within 1 mas. A 3-axes control of the satellite will be realized by using fiber gyro and triaxial reaction wheel system and careful treatment of various disturbing forces. Title: A very small astrometry satellite mission: Nano-JASMINE Authors: Kobayashi, Y.; Gouda, G.; Tsujimoto, T.; Yano, T.; Suganuma, M.; Yamauchi, M.; Takato, N.; Miyazaki, S.; Yamada, Y.; Sako, N.; Nakasuka, S. Bibcode: 2006IAUJD..13E..32K Altcode: The current status of the nano-JASMINE project is presented. Nano-JASMINE--a very small satellite weighing less than 10 kg--aims to carry out astrometry measurements of nearby bright stars. This satellite adopts the same observation technique that was used by the HIPPARCOS satellite. In this technique, simultaneous measurements in two different fields of view separated by an angle that is greater than 90 degrees are carried out; these measurements are performed in the course of continuous scanning observations of the entire sky. This technique enables us to distinguish between an irregularity in the spin velocity and the distribution of stellar positions. There is a major technical difference between the nano-JASMINE and the HIPPARCOS satellites--the utilization of a CCD sensor in nano-JASMINE that makes it possible to achieve an astrometry accuracy comparable to that achieved by HIPPARCOS by using an extremely small telescope. We developed a prototype of the observation system and evaluated its performance. The telescope (5cm) including a beam combiner composed entirely of aluminum. The telescope is based on the standard Ritchey-Chretien optical system and has a composite f-ratio of 33 that enables the matching of the Airy disk size to three times the CCD pixel size of 15um. A full depletion CCD will be used in the time delay integration (TDI) mode in order to efficiently survey the whole sky in wavelengths including the near infrared. The nano-JASMINE satellite is being developed as a piggyback system and is [S: scheduled for launch in 2008. We expect the satellite to measure the position and proper motion of bright stars (mz< 8.3) with an accuracy of 1 mas, this is comparable to the accuracy achieved with the HIPPARCOS satellite. Title: JASMINE Simulator Authors: Yamada, Y.; Gouda, N.; Yano, T.; Kobayashi, Y.; Suganuma, M.; Tsujimoto, T.; Sako, N.; Hatsutori, Y.; Tanaka, T. Bibcode: 2006IAUJD..13E..31Y Altcode: We explain simulation tools in JASMINE project (JASMINE simulator). The JASMINE project stands at the stage where its basic design will be determined in a few years. Then it is very important to simulate the data stream generated by astrometric fields at JASMINE in order to support investigations of error budgets, sampling strategy, data compression, data analysis, scientific performances, etc. Of course, component simulations are needed, but total simulations which include all components from observation target to satellite system are also very important. We find that new software technologies, such as Object Oriented (OO) methodologies are ideal tools for the simulation system of JASMINE (the JASMINE simulator). The simulation system should include all objects in JASMINE such as observation techniques, models of instruments and bus design, orbit, data transfer, data analysis etc. in order to resolve all issues which can be expected beforehand and make it easy to cope with some unexpected problems which might occur during the mission of JASMINE. So, the JASMINE Simulator is designed as handling events such as photons from astronomical objects, control signals for devices, disturbances for satellite attitude, by instruments such as mirrors and detectors, successively. The simulator is also applied to the technical demonstration "Nano-JASMINE". The accuracy of ordinary sensor is not enough for initial phase attitude control. Mission instruments may be a good sensor for this purpose. The problem of attitude control in initial phase is a good example of this software because the problem is closely related to both mission instruments and satellite bus systems. Title: JASMINE-Astrometric Map of the Galactic Bulge- Authors: Gouda, N.; Kobayashi, Y.; Yamada, Y.; Yano, T.; Tsujimoto, T.; Suganuma, M.; Niwa, Y.; Yamauchi, M.; Kawakatsu, Y.; Matsuhara, H.; Moda, A.; Tsuiki, A.; Utashima, M.; Ogawa, A.; Sako, N. Bibcode: 2006IAUJD..13E..30G Altcode: We introduce a Japanese plan of infrared(z-band:0.9μm) space astrometry (JASMINE-project). JASMINE is the satellite (Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration) which will measure the distances and apparent motions of stars around the center of the Milky Way with yet unprecedented precision. It will measure parallaxes, positions with the accuracy of 10 micro-arcsec and proper motions with the accuracy of 4 micro-arcsec/year for stars brighter than z=14mag. JASMINE can observe about ten million stars belonging to the bulge components of our Galaxy, which are hidden by the interstellar dust extinction in optical bands. Number of stars with sigma/pi <0.1 in the direction of the Galactic central bulge is about 1000 times larger than those observed in optical bands, where pi is a parallax and sigma is an error of the parallax. With the completely new "map of the bulge in the Milky Way", it is expected that many new exciting scientific results will be obtained in various fields of astronomy. We will introduce some scientific topics which will be obtained by JASMINE. Presently, JASMINE is in a development phase, with a target launch date around 2015. We adopt the following instrument design of JASMINE in order to get the accurate positions of many stars. We adopt a 3-mirrors optical system (modified Korsch system) with a primary mirror of 0.75m. On the astro-focal plane, we put dozens of new type of CCDs for z-band to get a wide field of view. The consideration of overall system(bus) design is now going on in cooperation with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The introduction of JASMINE and the present status of the project will be shown in the presentation. Title: JASMINE-astrometric map of the galactic bulge . Authors: Gouda, N.; Kobayashi, Y.; Yamada, Y.; Yano, T.; Tsujimoto, T.; Suganuma, M.; Niwa, Y.; Yamauchi, M.; Kawakatsu, Y.; Matsuhara, H.; Noda, A.; Tsuiki, A.; Utashima, M.; Ogawa, A.; Sako, N.; JASMINE working Group Bibcode: 2006MmSAI..77.1185G Altcode: We introduce a Japanese plan of infrared (z-band:0.9mu m) space astrometry(JASMINE-project). JASMINE is the satellite (Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration) which will measure distances and apparent motions of stars around the center of the Milky Way with yet unprecedented precision. It will measure parallaxes with the accuracy of 10 micro-arcsec and proper motions with the accuracy of 4 micro-arcsec/year for stars brighter than z=14mag. JASMINE can observe about ten million stars belonging to the bulge components of our Galaxy, which are hidden by the interstellar dust extinction in optical bands. Number of stars with sigma /pi <0.1 in the direction of the Galactic central bulge is about 1000 times larger than those observed in optical bands, where pi is a parallax and sigma is an error of the parallax. With the completely new map of the bulge in the Milky Way it is expected that many new exciting scientific results will be obtained in various fields of astronomy. We will introduce some scientific topics which will be obtained by JASMINE. Presently, JASMINE is in a development phase, with a target launch date around 2015. We adopt the following instrument design of JASMINE in order to get the accurate positions of many stars. We adopt a 3-mirrors optical system (modified Korsch system) with a primary mirror of 0.75m. On the astro-focal plane, we put dozens of new type of CCDs for z-band to get a wide field of view. JASMINE mission takes a frames-link method which can be applied for the survey of the Galactic bulge, as a observing strategy. The consideration of overall system (bus) design is now going on in cooperation with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The introduction of JASMINE and the present status of the project will be shown in the presentation. Title: JASMINE simulator Authors: Yamada, Y.; Gouda, N.; Yano, T.; Sako, N.; Hatsutori, Y.; Tanaka, T.; Yamauchi, M. Bibcode: 2006MmSAI..77.1190Y Altcode: We explain simulation tools in JASMINE project(JASMINE simulator). The JASMINE project stands at the stage where its basic design will be determined in a few years. Then it is very important to simulate the data stream generated by astrometric fields at JASMINE in order to support investigations of error budgets, sampling strategy, data compression, data analysis, scientific performances, etc. Of course, component simulations are needed, but total simulations which include all components from observation target to satellite system are also very important. We find that new software technologies, such as Object Oriented(OO) methodologies are ideal tools for the simulation system of JASMINE(the JASMINE simulator). The simulation system should include all objects in JASMINE such as observation techniques, models of instruments and bus design, orbit, data transfer, data analysis etc. in order to resolve all issues which can be expected beforehand and make it easy to cope with some unexpected problems which might occur during the mission of JASMINE. So, the JASMINE Simulator is designed as handling events such as photons from astronomical objects, control signals for devices, disturbances for satellite attitude, by instruments such as mirrors and detectors, successively. The simulator is also applied to the technical demonstration "Nano-JASMINE". The accuracy of ordinary sensor is not enough for initial phase attitude control. Mission instruments may be a good sensor for this purpose. The problem of attitude control in initial phase is a good example of this software because the problem is closely related to both mission instruments and satellite bus systems. Title: Educational Pico-Satellite Project CUBESAT - University of Tokyo's CUBESAT XI and its Operation Plan Authors: Tsuda, Y.; Sako, N.; Eishima, T.; Ito, T.; Arikawa, Y.; Miyamura, N. Bibcode: 2002iaf..confE.612T Altcode: University of Tokyo ISSL (Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory) has been developing a pico-satellite called "CubeSat" as an international joint program. In CubeSat project, 10cm cubic satellites have been developed by several universities and launched to the low-earth orbit altogether by Russian rocket "Dnepr". ISSL has developed "XI" series ([sai]: X-factor Investigator) satellites, and the flight model is already fabricated and ready for delivery. The mission of XI satellite is the on-orbit technology demonstration of the ultra-small satellite bus system with an extensive use of commercial-off-the-shelf components. XI transmits the Morse beacon and FM packet telemetry which provides the health data of the satellite. Additionally, XI has a CMOS camera which provides 15,000 pixels panchromatic images as an advanced mission. Ground operation is one of the key issues for CubeSats. Now we are promoting international ground station network in which several universities' ground stations connected by internet collaboratively operate university-built small satellites, which enlarges the link opportunity. Collaboration with amateur HAM engineers is also indispensable for search for the satellite or get beacon signal to estimate the satellite orbit. We are now developing operation concept based on these ideas. As the launch is scheduled in this fall, the operation plan will be fixed at the time of this conference. In this presentation the final design of ISSL's CubeSat XI and operation plan will be presented. Title: Cansat suborbital launch experiment-university educational space program using can sized pico-satellite Authors: Sako, N.; Tsuda, Y.; Ota, S.; Eishima, T.; Yamamoto, T.; Ikeda, I.; H,, II; Yamamoto, H.; Tanaka, H.; Tanaka, A.; Nakasuka, S. Bibcode: 2001AcAau..48..767S Altcode: Our laboratory is proceeding with a project to design and fabricate a nano satellite named "Gekkabijin" as "CanSat" project. This project was agreed at USSS'98 as a Japan-U.S. joint venture to make satellites for educational purpose. CanSat is, as can be imaged from the name, a Coke can shaped and sized satellite. Our CanSat "Gekkabijin" was designed to deploy a thin flexible membrane using centrifugal force. Before we can launch a CanSat into space, we had a chance to put it into sub-orbit with a support from a U.S. amateur rocket group in the name of ARLISS Project. ARLISS Project has already taken place twice in 1999 and 2000 and we carried out 6 missions. This paper describes the objectives, satellite design, experiment results and lessons learned of University of Tokyo CanSat Project.