Japan Launches World's Smallest Satellite-Carrying Rocket

2018-02-03 1

Japan’s space agency said it successfully launched the world’s smallest satellite-carrying rocket on February 3.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the SS-520 series rocket lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture just after 2 p.m.

Japan Today reported that the rocket was about the size of a utility pole, measuring 10 meters in length and 50 centimeters in diameter. It carried a microsatellite weighing about 3 kilograms developed by the University of Tokyo to collect imagery of the Earth’s surface, the outlet said. Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency: JAXA via Storyful