The Japanese space agency JAXA on Saturday conducted the successful launch of the world’s smallest SS-520-5 launch vehicle. The broadcast of the tests was conducted live on the agency’s website.
The launch vehicle, which is a little over 9 m in length, was launched from the Utynourau cosmodrome in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwest Japan at 14:03 local time.
It should put into orbit a three-kilogram experimental satellite for geological prospecting and communications, which was developed at the University of Tokyo, in particular, for photographing the Earth’s surface.