MDS-1 explained

Mission Demonstration Satellite 1 (MDS-1) or Tsubasa (COSPAR 2002-003A, SATCAT 27367) was a Japanese technology test mission. It was launched by the second H-2A on February 4, 2002 from the Tanegashima Space Center. After the launch, MDS-1 was renamed Tsubasa, meaning wings in Japanese. Tsubasa was placed in a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). It ended its operational phase on 26 February 2003. A similar mission, MDS-2, was cancelled.^[1]

The purpose of the mission was to test the performance of commercial off-the-shelf components, including solar batteries, semiconductors and computers.^{[2] [3]} MDS-1 also carried instrumentation to observe how changes in the environment as the satellite passed through the Van Allen radiation belts affected the performance of each component. Among these instruments were a dosimeter using radiation-sensitive field effect transistors,^[4] a magnetometer, and a device for tracking heavy ions.^[5] During the mission, MDS-1 tracked the occurrence of single event upsets (SEU), finding the majority occurred while passing the inner belt during solar maximum and were likely caused by high energy protons.^[6] The whole weight of the satellite was 480 kg.^[2]

Notes and References

1. Web site: MDS 2. space.skyrocket.de. Gunter's Space Page. 7 January 2019.
2. Web site: MDS-1 – NSSDC Master Catalog. nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NSSDC. 7 January 2019.
3. Web site: JAXA Mission Demonstration test Satellite-1 "TSUBASA" (MDS-1). jaxa.jp. JAXA. 7 January 2019. 29 May 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130529000947/http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/mds1/index_e.html. dead.
4. Kimoto. Y. . Koshiishi. H.. Matsumoto. H.. Goka. T.. Total dose orbital data by dosimeter onboard tsubasa (mds-1) satellite. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. December 2003. 50. 6. 2301–2306. 10.1109/TNS.2003.821399. 2003ITNS...50.2301K .
5. Koshiishi. H.. Matsumoto. H.. Kimoto. Y.. Liu. H.. Goka. T.. Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment Board Mission Demonstration Test Satellite-1. COSPAR Colloqui Series. COSPAR Colloquia Series . 2002. 14. 369–371. 10.1016/S0964-2749(02)80184-6. 9780080441108 .
6. Koshiishi. H.. Matsumoto . H.. Goka. T.. Single-event upset in geostationary transfer orbit during solar-activity maximum period measured by the Tsubasa satellite. Advances in Space Research. November 2008. 42. 9. 1500–1503. 10.1016/j.asr.2007.11.026. 2008AdSpR..42.1500K .