Japan successfully launches its first commercial satellite

Japan has successfully launched its first commercial satellite on 24 November 2015 as part its national space programme.
Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying Canadian TELSTAR 12V communications and broadcasting satellite for operator Telesat was successfully lifted off from Tanegashima Space Centre (TSC).
With this, Japan is entered into the commercial satellite launch business which is mainly dominated by European and Russian companies.
Key facts

• The first commercial satellite launch was overseen by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
• Japan is aiming to become a major player in the commercial satellite launching business which is worth 2.5 billion dollars a year.
• In this regard, it has tried to improve its H-IIA rocket in order to cut the cost of each launch to make its programme competitive.

Some Facts: India had launched its first commercial satellite successfully in 2007 using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying Italian satellite AGILE for space exploration.
With this, India had joined the elite club of nations comprising US, Russia, China, Ukraine and European Space Agency (ESA) having capacity to deploy their space exploration resources for commercial use. Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL) is the marketing arm of ISRO. It oversees commercialization of space exploration resources for commercial use developed by ISRO.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2015