Kounotori 6 (こうのとり6号機), also known as HTV-6, was the sixth flight of the H-II Transfer Vehicle, an uncrewed cargo spacecraft launched to resupply the International Space Station. It was launched at 13:26:47 UTC on 9 December 2016 aboard H-IIB launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center.
![]() The SSRMS (Canadarm2) grapples Kounotori 6 spacecraft, prior to berthing on 13 December 2016. | |
Mission type | ISS resupply |
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Operator | JAXA |
COSPAR ID | 2016-076A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 41881 |
Mission duration | 58 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Kounotori 6 |
Spacecraft type | HTV |
Manufacturer | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
Launch mass | 16400 kg |
Dry mass | 10500 kg |
Payload mass | 5900 kg |
Dimensions | 9.8 metre of long, 4.4 metre of diameter |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 9 December 2016, 13:26:47 UTC |
Rocket | H-IIB No. 6 |
Launch site | Tanegashima, Yoshinobu 2 |
Contractor | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
End of mission | |
Disposal | deorbited |
Decay date | 5 February 2017, 15:06 UTC |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.66° |
Berthing at ISS | |
Berthing port | Harmony |
RMS capture | 13 December 2016, 10:37 UTC |
Berthing date | 13 December 2016, 13:57 UTC |
Unberthing date | 27 January 2017, 10:59 UTC |
RMS release | 27 January 2017, 15:45 UTC |
Cargo | |
Mass | 5900 kg |
Pressurised | 4000 kg |
Unpressurised | 1900 kg |
HTV ISS Resupply |
Major changes from previous Kounotori include:[1][2]
SFINKS (Solar Cell Film Array Sheet for Next Generation on Kounotori Six) will test thin film solar cells in space.[3]
KITE (Kounotori Integrated Tether Experiment) was an experimental electrodynamic tether (EDT).[4][5] The tether was equipped with a 20 kg end-mass, and would have been 700 m long when deployed.[4][6][7] A maximum current of 10 mA was planned to run through the tether.[4] Kounotori's ISS rendezvous sensor would have been utilized to measure how the end-mass moves during the test.[4] The EDT experiment was scheduled following Kounotori 6's departure from the ISS, with a planned duration of one week.[4] After the experiment, the tether would have been separated before the spacecraft proceeds with the de-orbit maneuvers. The main objective of this experiment were the orbital demonstration of both extending an uncoated bare-tether, and driving electric currents through the EDT.[5] These two technologies will contribute to gaining capabilities to remove space debris.[5][8][9][10]
Kounotori 6 carries about 5900 kg of cargo (including the support structure weight), consisting of 3900 kg in PLC (Pressurized Logistics Carrier) and 1900 kg in ULC (Unpressurized Logistics Carrier).[11]
Cargo in the pressurized compartment includes 30 bags filled with potable water (600 liters),[12][13] food, crew commodities, CDRA Bed (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly), TPF (Two-Phase Flow) experiment unit, PS-TEPC (Position-Sensitive Tissue Equivalent Proportional Chamber) radiation measurement instrument, ExHAM (Exposed Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism), HDTV-EF2 high-definition and 4K camera, new J-SSOD (JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer), and CubeSats (AOBA-Velox III, TuPOD which comprises two TubeSats (Tancredo-1 and OSNSAT), EGG, ITF-2, STARS-C, FREEDOM, WASEDA-SAT3).[14][15][11] Cargo by NanoRacks includes TechEdSat-5,[16] CubeRider,[17] RTcMISS,[18] NREP-P DM7,[19][20] four Lemur-2.[21] Additionally, the Blue SPHERES satellite of the MIT Space Systems Laboratory is being returned to the ISS for continued autonomous systems research.[22]
Cargo in the unpressurized compartment consists of six lithium-ion batteries and their associated adapter plates to replace existing nickel-hydrogen batteries of the International Space Station. Since each of the new lithium-ion battery has a capability equivalent to two of the current nickel-hydrogen batteries, the six new batteries will replace twelve old batteries, out of the 48 existing batteries of the ISS.[12]
On departure from the ISS, Kounotori 6 carries 9 out of the 12 replaced old batteries which will be disposed of by destructive reentry into Earth's atmosphere. The 3 remaining old batteries stay on the ISS.[13]
On 26 July 2016, the launch was scheduled for 30 September 2016,[23] but on 10 August 2016, postponement was announced due to the leak from piping.[24]
The H-IIB launch vehicle carrying Kounotori 6 lifted off at 13:26:47 UTC on 9 December 2016, and 15 minutes 11 seconds later, Kounotori 6 was released into initial 200 × 300 km orbit.[25][26]
SFINKS experiment payload began the data collection at 14:16, on 9 December 2016, but it stopped unexpectedly after 509 seconds.[27]
After a series of orbital manoeuvres, Kounotori 6 arrived to the proximity of ISS and captured by SSRMS (Canadarm2) at 10:39 (10:37 according to NASA), on 13 December 2016.[28][29] Kounotori was bolted to the CBM (Common Berthing Mechanism) of the Harmony nadir port by 13:48 UTC.[30]
Berthing operation completed at 18:24, on 13 December 2016 UTC,[31] and the hatch opened at 19:44 UTC.[32]
Since 07:44, 14 December 2016, Exposed Pallet (EP) was extracted from Unpressurised Logistics Carrier (ULC) of Kounotori 6 by SSRMS and transferred to Payload and ORU Accommodation (POA).[33][34] After a combination of two Extra-Vehicular Activities and robotic operations, the lithium-ion battery units and adapter plates were installed. The Exposed Pallet carrying old Nickel-hydrogen battery units was returned to Kounotori 6's Unpresurised Logistics Carrier on 23 January 2017.[35]
SSRMS grappled and detached Kounotori 6 from the CBM of Harmony nadir port at 10:59, 27 January 2017,[36] and Kounotori 6 was released at 15:45, on 27 January 2017.[37]
Following the undocking after moving to a safe distance from ISS, the Kounotori 6 was to demonstrate the "Kounotori Integrated Tether Experiment" (KITE) using electrodynamic tether to demonstrate space debris removal technology.[38] This experiment was planned for seven days before reentry to the Earth's atmosphere.[36] On 31 January 2017, media reported some problems in extending the tether, bringing to doubt the experiment's success.[39]
A series of deorbit manoeuvres were performed at 08:42, 10:12, and 14:42 UTC, on 5 February 2017.[40][41][42] Kounotori 6 reentered to Earth atmosphere over southern Pacific Ocean around 15:06 UTC, on 5 February 2017.
Kounotori H-II Transfer Vehicle spaceflights | ||
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Past missions | ![]() | |
Future missions |
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See also |
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Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station | ||
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2000–2004 | ||
2005–2009 | ||
2010–2014 | ||
2015–2019 | ||
2020–2024 | ||
Future |
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Spacecraft |
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← 2015 · Orbital launches in 2016 · 2017 → | |
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January | |
February | BeiDou M3-S – USA-266 / GPS IIF-12 – Kosmos 2514 / GLONASS-M 751 – Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 – USA-267 / NROL-45 / Topaz-4 – Sentinel-3A – ASTRO-H / Hitomi · ChubuSat-2 · ChubuSat-3 · Horyu-4 |
March | SES-9 – Eutelsat 65 West A – IRNSS-1F – Resurs-P No.3 – ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter · Schiaparelli EDM – Soyuz TMA-20M – Cygnus CRS OA-6 (Diwata-1 · Flock-2e' × 20 · Lemur-2 × 9) – Kosmos 2515 / Bars-M No.2 – BeiDou IGSO-6 – Progress MS-02 |
April | Shijian-10 – Dragon CRS-8 · BEAM – Sentinel-1B · MICROSCOPE · AAUSAT-4 · e-st@r-II · OUFTI-1 – Mikhailo Lomonosov · Aist-2D · SamSat 218 – IRNSS-1G |
May | JCSAT-14 – Yaogan 30 – Galileo FOC-10, FOC-11 – Thaicom 8 – Kosmos 2516 / GLONASS-M 753 – Ziyuan III-02 · ÑuSat 1, 2 |
June | Kosmos 2517 / Geo-IK-2 No.12 – Intelsat 31 / DLA-2 – USA-268 / NROL-37 – BeiDou G7 – Eutelsat 117 West B · ABS-2A – Echostar 18 · BRIsat – CartoSat-2C · BIROS · GHGsat · LAPAN-A3 · M3MSat · SkySat-C1 · Flock-2p × 12 · SathyabamaSat · Swayam – MUOS-5 – Chinese next-generation crew capsule scale model · Aolong-1 · Aoxiang Zhixing · Tiange-1 · Tiange-2 – Shijian 16-02 |
July | |
August | Tiantong-1 01 – Gaofen-3 – JCSAT-16 – QUESS / Mozi / Micius · ³Cat-2 · LiXing-1 – USA-270 / GSSAP #3 · USA-271 / GSSAP #4 – Intelsat 33e · Intelsat 36 – Gaofen-10 |
September | Amos-6 – INSAT-3DR – OSIRIS-REx – Ofek-11 – Tiangong-2 – PeruSat-1 · SkySat × 4 – ScatSat-1 · Alsat-1B · Alsat-2B · Blacksky Pathfinder-1 · Alsat-1N · CanX-7 · PISat · Pratham |
October | |
November | Himawari 9 – Shijian-17 – XPNAV 1 – WorldView-4 · CELTEE 1 · Prometheus-2 × 2 · AeroCube 8 × 2 · U2U · RAVAN – Yunhai-1 – Galileo FOC 7, 12, 13, 14 – Soyuz MS-03 – GOES-R – Tianlian I-04 |
December | Progress MS-04 – Göktürk-1 – Resourcesat-2A – WGS-8 – HTV-6 / Kounotori 6 · (EGG · TuPOD · UBAKUSAT · AOBA-VELOX · STARS · FREEDOM · ITF · Waseda-SAT · OSNSAT · Tancredo-1 · TechEDSat · Lemur-2 × 4) – Fengyun 4A – CYGNSS × 8 – EchoStar 19 – Arase / ERG – TanSat · Spark × 2 – Star One D1 · JCSAT-15 – SuperView / Gaojing-1 01, 02 · Bayi Kepu 1 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Cubesats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). |