Astro-E2 was successfully launched at 12:30 am JST (Japan Standard Time) on July 10, 2005 (11:30 pm EDT on July 9, 2005)! Following the successful launch, it was renamed Suzaku, following Japanese tradition of renaming a satellite once it is in orbit.

On July 11, satellite's spin was stopped, and attitude control was established. The solar panels were also deployed. The power system is working well.

On July 12, the "Extendable Optical Bench" was successfully deployed. Before launch, the X-ray telescopes were folded in closer to the main body of the satellite, just so it fits in to the nose cone of the rocket. Now it is in its proper configuration, being able to focus X-rays onto the XRS and the four XIS instruments.

In the meantime, several valves of the XRS were opened, and the instrument is cooling nicely. Various electronics boxes have been turned on, too. Everything appears to be working well!

On July 13, Suzaku was placed in a planned "safe-hold" mode. This means that its orientation is fixed so the solar panels receive the maximum amount of sunlight. In the meantime, the mechanical cooler of the XRS is working well, so it will help preserve the solid neon and liquid helium longer. This means that we can keep using the XRS for perhaps full 3 years, though we don't know that for sure yet. Also, the electrical wiring of all the XRS pixels have survived the launch.

Starting on July 15, the team has been concentrating on "raising the perigee." Initially, the Suzaku orbit was rather elliptical - the height above the Earth ranged from 274 km at its lowest ("perigee") to 560 km at its highest ("apogee"). There is still a little bit of atmosphere at such heights, which will eventually drag down satellites like Suzaku - and, naturally, the atmosphere is more rarified the heigher you go. So, to keep Suzaku in orbit for many years, we'd like to put it into an almost circular orbit, about 560 km above the Earth (this is about as high as we can manage with the resources we have). So, they are using the on-board hydrazyne thrusters to gradually raise the perigee. Suzaku has now achieved an almost perfectly circular orbit 568 km above the Earth! (To be precise, there is a 3 km difference in altitude from perigee to apogee.)

So far, all instruments appear to be working well. In particular, the XRS detector successfully achieved 60 mK temperature, making it the coldest object in orbit aound the Earth! The calibration source data show that the detector is working well!

During the first week of August, the alignment of the satellite as a whole and the telescopes will be measured. First real observations will start around August 10!

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