A tiny cubiform satellite made by graduate students at the University of Tokyo and launched from a Russian space station on a Cosmos rocket last month is in a circular orbit 688 km above the Earth, using a new solar battery to transmit data.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='200' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='/images/photos2005/nn20051129f3a.jpg' WIDTH='200' HEIGHT='144'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>SHINICHI NAKASUKA –

, a professor at the University of Tokyo, and Ryu Funahashi, leader of a group of graduate students who made a tiny cubical satellite, shown in bottom photo provided by Nakasuka, weep with joy Oct. 27 after the first signal from the craft was received as it passed over Japan.

It is the second such satellite placed in orbit. The first was sent up in June 2003.