OREX

For the company traded under the stock symbol OREX, see Orexigen Therapeutics. For the NASA asteroid sample return mission, see OSIRIS-REx.

OREX (Orbital Re-entry Experiment) was a NASDA re-entry demonstrator prototype which was launched in 1994 on the H-II launcher; the satellite was renamed Ryūsei (りゅうせい, Shooting star). It was a precursor for the Japanese space shuttle HOPE.

Ryusei

1:1 scale model of OREX and the Vehicle Evaluation Payload within the H-II fairing, at the Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum
Mission type	Technology
Operator	NASDA
COSPAR ID	1994-007A
SATCAT no.	22978
Website	www.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/orex/index_e.html
Mission duration	2 hours
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	NASDA
Launch mass	865 kilograms (1,907 lb)
Landing mass	761 kilograms (1,678 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	3 February 1994, 22:20 (1994-02-03UTC22:20Z) UTC[1]
Rocket	H-II
Launch site	Tanegashima Yoshinobu 1
End of mission
Landing date	4 February 1994, 00:30 (1994-02-04UTC00:31Z) UTC[2]
Landing site	Pacific Ocean
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	448 kilometres (278 mi)
Apogee altitude	458 kilometres (285 mi)
Inclination	30.5 degrees
Period	93.64 minutes
Epoch	3 February 1994[3]

OREX tested various communications systems, heating profiles and heat shielding components for HOPE.

See also

• ALFLEX
• HOPE-X
• HYFLEX