Kore wa tanoshiku nai desu ka?

More satellite operations today, starting at noon after finishing at 5 am. We're just about to start the real-time stuff for the evening. The satellite is in low-Earth orbit, 600 km up, completing a full orbit every 100 minutes. By the wonders of classical mechanics, only 5 orbits per day pass over the single Japanese tracking station, where I am currently located. Each pass is 10-15 minutes long, and it is during this time that satellite data (including instrument status and science data) is downloaded and new commands for the next day are uploaded. There are six or seven of us here who huddle around our respective computers during each pass to make sure the downlinks and uplinks go well and that the spacecraft and instruments are in good health. Checking instrument status is basically what I do during that time. It's really quite exciting to copy numbers off a screen, but at least I can understand numbers better than Japanese characters. After the 7 hours of passes are done (they're consecutive, fortunately), we write up the operation report, package the science data, and do some other things.

The Suzaku (すざく) satellite takes a vacation day every Sunday, so there are no operations duties to perform. Tomorrow Ozawa-san, Ohno-san (another operator) and I are going to a hot spring nearby, and then to a restaurant to eat extremely large shrimp for dinner. Apparently it's the regional delicacy, it's in season, and they're bigger than my head (from what I've been told). I'll keep you posted.

In sumo news, Kotooshu the Bulgarian suffered his second defeat in the fall tournament, so it all comes down to Sunday's matches. I'm rooting for him, because he seems to be about 100 lbs lighter than his competitors but somehow always manages to win.