Tokyo: Japan conducted its third successful satellite launch in less than a month, deploying an infra-red camera to probe the origins of distant galaxies.
The launch came as Tokyo seeks to bolster confidence in its space program after a series of setbacks.
An M5 rocket was launched as scheduled at 0628 hours IST and released its Astro-F satellite at 0643 hours IST, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spokesman said.
The satellite will survey the skies with its infra-red camera and is expected to detect more than 10 million galaxies, helping astronomers to study the life cycle of stars and investigate their origins and evolution.
The launch follows Japan's embarrassing failure in November 2003 to deploy a spy satellite in space.
The rocket carrying the satellite to monitor North Korea had to be destroyed soon after its launch due to technical problems.
Japan's space ambitions dealt a further blow last year by the apparent failure of a landmark mission to bring back samples from an asteroid.
Japan is seeking a slice of the lucrative commercial satellite market currently dominated by American and European operators.
Comments
0 comment