Mitsubishi Heavy Data Relay satellite successfully launched

Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture, November 29 (Jiji Press) – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. successfully launched an optical data satellite on an H-2A rocket on Sunday.

The H-2A No. 43 took off from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Kagoshima prefecture at 16:25 (7:25 GMT). The satellite subsequently entered its planned orbit.

The satellite data relay will demonstrate the high-speed intersatellite communication technologies developed by JAXA.

Positioned in stationary orbit, the satellite will use high-speed optical laser-based communication technologies to receive data from an Earth observation satellite at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers and transfer the received data to a station on Earth. Since the satellite will be constantly over Japan, it can send data to the station in the country for a longer time.

The satellite launched this time is also equipped with a data transmission device for the collection of satellite information managed by the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center of the Japanese government.