Promising scenarios for university nano-satellites projects - Challenges of UNISEC

Recently, growing interests in university nano-satellite projects are observed in Japan. Five years continuous efforts and successful experiences in launching satellites into orbit made it possible to start more challenging mission in collaboration with scientists. At the same time, there exist many difficulties for university students to pursue such projects. This paper presents what university nano-satellite projects will be like in the future, using scenario planning methodology. First, the background of university satellite projects in Japan will be briefly described, secondly the future scenarios will be developed with a focal issue and finally futures of university nano-satellite projects will be discussed, followed by considering UNISEC's roles.