NEXTAR

NEXTAR (from NEC Next　Generation　Star) is a Low Earth orbit Earth observation satellite bus designed and manufactured by NEC Space Systems of Japan. This three axis stabilized platform has a bus dry mass of , it can carry payloads up to and 600 W. It uses tri-junction GaAs has an expected life between 3 and 5 years.

Its telemetry and control subsystem includes S band and X band channels.

Platform models

As of 2014, there are three different models of the NEXTAR standardized platform. All feature a common core of features like using the SpaceWire communications protocol, the SpaceCube2 on-board computer and autonomous control functions. The different models are:

• NX-300L: Low Earth orbit platform for small observation satellites in the range. It was born out of the ASNARO 1 work and is used mainly for Earth observation applications.
• NX-1500L: Low Earth orbit platform for medium observation satellites in the range. It began with the work on GCOM-W and is used mainly for Earth observation applications.
• NX-G: Geosynchronous orbit platform for small communication satellites in the range. Based on the work of the WINDS satellite, it will be used mainly for communications applications.

List of satellites

Satellites using the NEXTAR platform.

See also

• DS2000 - Mitsubishi Electric's standard satellite bus
• Star Bus – Another comparable satellite bus made by Orbital ATK.

References

External links

• NEC's NEXTAR page