Ajisai
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Ajisai is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 12,358 triangles in a 92 kB glTF file, and is 2.1 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for the object with NORAD catalogue number 16908, where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 2.15 m |
| Mirror max side | 0.25 m |
eoPortal, eoportal.org/satellite-missions/egs, opened 2026-10-13: 'EGS is a passive spherical satellite of 2.15 m diameter and a mass of 685.2 kg, carrying 318 mirrors and 120 laser retroreflector assemblies (1436 corner cube reflectors)'. Kucharski et al., ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/lw15/docs/papers/Determination%20of%20AJISAI%…, opened 2026-10-13: 'The LRR panels are almost uniformly distributed over the surface, arranged in 15 latitudinal rings [2]. There are 5 rings with 12 LRR's, 4 rings with 9 LRR's, 2 rings with 6 LRR's, and 4 rings with 3 LRR's each.' Kucharski et al. 2015 (Earth, Planets and Space, through web.archive.org/web/20230204033126/https://earth-planets-space.s…), opened 2026-10-13: 'Each panel contains 12 CCRs except for the one mounted on the central ring - with 8 CCRs only.' Korobeynikova et al. 2012, oap.onu.edu.ua/article/download/83378/78950, opened 2026-10-13: '318 quasi-flat mirrors (spherical in fact - the radius of curvature of the mirrors is 8.4-8.7 m, and the size <= 0.25 m)' and 'In the literature we have not found information on the actual placement of the whole set of mirrors.' arxiv.org/html/2511.16780v1, opened 2026-10-13: 'a surface area of up to 393 cm2 each'. NOT CITED, AND OURS: which ring has how many panels, each ring's latitude, how many mirrors stand in each ring, each mirror's size, the cubes' 36 mm faces (read 2026-10-13)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from the published counts of Ajisai's mirrors and retroreflectors.
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh
Where the map uses it. NORAD 16908 (AJISAI (EGS)), Japan's geodetic mirror ball, on the layer of bright satellites. It was the one plain ball every laser-ranging sphere wears, which is still what is drawn while this file is on its way; public #947
Licence note. No picture ships and none was traced: the only photographs found are JAXA's, which are not free and were looked at on the page named under `references`; the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence
References 1
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Ajisai (EGS), the ILRS mission pageJAXA, through the International Laser Ranging ServiceNOT FREE: the page credits its photographs 'Courtesy of JAXA'. The copy on Wikimedia Commons ('Ajisai Satellite.jpg') is tagged public domain as a NASA work, which this credit contradicts, so it is not relied on
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Ajisai 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=ajisai" title="Ajisai, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
