The world's smallest carrier rocket, developed in Japan, is scheduled to be launched Jan. 11, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Thursday.

The 2.6-ton rocket, about the size of a telephone pole measuring 9.5 meters in length and 0.5 meters in diameter, will be launched from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 7:20 a.m.

It will send a geological survey and communication experimental satellite to space, according to JAXA.

The three-stage rocket was developed by modifying the two-stage observation rocket currently used by JAXA.

The TRICOM1 satellite, developed by the University of Tokyo and weighing about 3 kilograms, will capture images of the Earth and engage in a data communication experiment.