Ginga (satellite)
Ginga (Japanese for ‘galaxy’, formerly ASTRO-C), was an X-ray astronomy satellite launched from the Kagoshima Space Center on 5 February 1987 using M-3SII launch vehicle.1 The primary instrument for observations was the Large Area Counter (LAC). Ginga was the third Japanese X-ray astronomy mission, following Hakucho and Tenma (also Hinotori satellite - which preceded Ginga - had X-ray sensors, but it can be seen as a heliophysics rather than X-ray astronomy mission).2 Ginga reentered the Earth’s atmosphere on 1 November 1991.
Printed 2026-09-11.
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Footnotes
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“GINGA | Spacecraft | ISAS”. www.isas.jaxa.jp. Retrieved 2025-12-12. ↩
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“JAXA | History of Japanese X-ray Astronomy Satellites”. global.jaxa.jp. Retrieved 2025-12-12. ↩