It is a student-built spacecraft, which is operated by Kagoshima University, and is being used for technology demonstration and atmospheric research.

[4] The satellite is a single unit CubeSat, and carries equipment to study water vapour in the Earth's atmosphere, microwave imagery and spacecraft communication.

[4][5] The launch was conducted by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries under contract to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

[6] The launch attempt was scrubbed a few minutes before liftoff due to bad weather, but took place successfully at 21:58:22 UTC on 20 May 2010.

The three CubeSats separated into low Earth orbit during a coast phase of the launch, between the first and second burns of the second stage.