Weos

Whale Ecology Observation Satellite, also called Kantakun.

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General

Designation	27599 / 02056C
Launch date	14 Dec 2002
Country of origin	Japan
Mission	Scientific: ecology
Perigee/Apogee	800 km, sun-synchronous
Inclination	98.7°
Period	100.8 min
Launch vehicle	H2A #11

Owned by the Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan.

The satellite tracks whales which have transponders attached. These devices have a data recorder for GPS position, sea temperature and depth. Data is transferred when the whale surfaces and the spacecraft is overhead.

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External resources

sat-index articles

http://www.it-chiba.ac.jp/guide/whale/top.html

Technical data

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Specifications

Prime contractor	Chiba Institute of Technology
Platform
Mass at launch	58 kg
Mass in orbit
Dimension	50 cm cube
Solar array
Stabilization	3 m gravity gradient
DC power
Design lifetime

Has an S-band payload for TT&C
Communications with the devices in UHF

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