Japan successfully launches land observing satellite

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced that a rocket carrying a land observing satellite has been launched successfully on Saturday. The H-2A rocket, which carries an advanced land observing satellite named Daichi-2, lifted off at 12:05 p.m. from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. Using radar, Daichi-2, which is 4.5-meter high, 3.2-meter long and 3.6-meter wide will be able to provide more accurate land surface information regardless of day or night and weather. As a new model for the previous Daichi, it could identify a 3- meter object on the Earth's surface, compared with 10 meters of the old one. It could also send data to the Earth in an hour and, contributing further to dealing with disasters. The H-2A rocket also carries four small satellites developed by Tohoku University, Nihon University, Wakayama University and Advanced Engineering Services Co. The Daichi satellite was launched in 2006. After five years of service, the satellite lost power and ceased communication with the Earth, but remains in orbit. It used to help observe damage caused by the powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in March 2011.