| Kounotori 4 | |||||||||||||
| Mission Type: | ISS resupply | ||||||||||||
| Operator: | JAXA | ||||||||||||
| Cospar Id: | 2013-040A | ||||||||||||
| Satcat: | 39221 | ||||||||||||
| Mission Duration: | 35 days | ||||||||||||
| Spacecraft Type: | H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) | ||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) | ||||||||||||
| Dry Mass: | 10500 kg | ||||||||||||
| Launch Mass: | 15900 kg | ||||||||||||
| Launch Date: | 3 August 2013, 19:48:46 UTC | ||||||||||||
| Launch Rocket: | H-IIB No. 4 | ||||||||||||
| Launch Site: | Tanegashima, Yoshinobu-2 | ||||||||||||
| Launch Contractor: | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | ||||||||||||
| Disposal Type: | Deorbited | ||||||||||||
| Decay Date: | 7 September 2013, 06:37 UTC | ||||||||||||
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric orbit[1] | ||||||||||||
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth orbit | ||||||||||||
| Orbit Inclination: | 51.66° | ||||||||||||
| Apsis: | gee | ||||||||||||
| Docking: |
| ||||||||||||
| Cargo Mass: | 5400 kg | ||||||||||||
| Cargo Mass Press: | 3900 kg | ||||||||||||
| Cargo Mass Unpress: | 1500 kg | ||||||||||||
| Programme: | HTV ISS Resupply | ||||||||||||
| Previous Mission: | Kounotori 3 | ||||||||||||
| Next Mission: | Kounotori 5 | ||||||||||||
Kounotori 4, also known as HTV-4, was the fourth flight of the H-II Transfer Vehicle, an uncrewed cargo spacecraft launched in August 2013 to resupply the International Space Station. It launched from Tanegashima Space Center aboard H-IIB No. 4 (H-IIB F4) rocket on 3 August 2013 and connected to ISS by 9 August 2013; it carried of cargo.[2] Kounotori 4 undocked on 4 September 2013 and was destroyed by reentry on 7 September 2013.[3] [4]
Major changes of Kounotori 4 from previous HTV are:
Kounotori 4 carries about of cargo, consisting of in the pressurized compartment and in the unpressurized compartment.
Pressurized cargo include: CANA (Cabin network system for Kibō), Stirling-Cycle Refrigerator (FROST), ISS Cryogenic Experiment Storage Box (ICE Box), i-Ball and Re-Entry Data Recorder (REDR), four CubeSats: (PicoDragon, ArduSat-1, ArduSat-X, TechEdSat-3p), and the Kirobo (robot companion for Koichi Wakata).
Unpressurized cargo include: MBSU (Main Bus Switching Units) and UTA (Utility Transfer Assembly) which are ISS system spare parts, and a NASA experiment module STP-H4 (Space Test Program - Houston 4).
Kounotori 4 was successfully launched atop a H-IIB carrier rocket flying from pad 2 of the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at Tanegashima Space Center at 19:48:46 UTC on 3 August 2013. After 5.5 days of orbital manoeuvres, it arrived to Approach Initiation Point (behind ISS) at 05:31 UTC, 9 August 2013,[6] and started the final approach sequence at 08:05 UTC.[7] The ISS's robotic arm Canadarm2 grappled Kounotori 4 at 11:22 UTC, and fastened to ISS's Common berthing mechanism (CBM) on 16:32 UTC. All berthing operations were completed at 18:38 UTC.[8]
The ISS crew opened the hatch and entered to Pressurized Logistics Carrier (PLC) at 11:11 UTC, 10 August 2013.[9]
Kounotori 4 undocked from the ISS at 16:20 UTC, on 4 September 2013, Karen Nyberg then used the stations Canadarm2 to manoeuvre HTV-4 away from the International Space Station.[3]
Trajectory after the release was controlled so that the reentry coincides with ISS passing over to observe it. Japanese flight controllers have deorbited HTV-4 on 06:11 UTC, on 7 September 2013, and it reentered to the atmosphere around 06:37 UTC, on7 September 2013.[4]