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.
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