Japan’s space agency, JAXA, has successfully launched a pioneering “origami” satellite that unfolds to 25 times its original size, demonstrating next-generation space deployment technology. The satellite, a 10-centimetre cube, expands into a 2.5-metre array once in orbit.
Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 Mission
The cubesat was part of JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 mission, which carried eight satellites designed to test advanced space technologies developed by startups and universities. The mission lifted off at just after 3pm local time on Thursday from New Zealand’s North Island aboard a Rocket Lab Electron spacecraft. The payload reached orbit approximately one hour later.
Rocket Lab's Kakushin Rising Mission
Rocket Lab named the mission ‘Kakushin Rising’. According to the company’s description, the mission featured “a deployable antenna that can be packed tightly using origami folding techniques and unfurled to 25 times its size.” The payload also included “educational small sats, an ocean monitoring satellite, [and] a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras.”
Origami Folding Techniques
JAXA describes the 10-centimetre cube as “an unprecedentedly lightweight and highly packable deployable array antenna for space, with antenna elements attached to a two-layer deployable membrane that can be folded using origami techniques.” The space agency has been testing various origami methods for satellite deployments in recent years, including the popular Miura fold. First devised in 1970, the Miura folding technique has become a common way to pack large paper maps. The first satellite to employ this origami technique launched in 1995, and researchers are now experimenting with more ambitious folds.
For the latest JAXA mission, the satellite uses a flasher pattern, which stows and deploys in a spiral manner. This was the second of two Electron launches sponsored by JAXA, with the first taking place in December 2025.
Rocket Lab CEO Comments
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement following the launch: “Two successful missions in a matter of months, deployed precisely where they needed to be on orbit, shows exactly why Electron is the preferred small launcher for national space agencies. JAXA is a world leader in space and it’s been an honor to be trusted with these back-to-back missions growing Japan’s aerospace economy.”
