An ultra-small artificial satellite "Suisen" developed by Fukui Prefecture and others was launched from Kazakhstan on the afternoon of the 22nd of Japan time.
The ultra-small artificial satellite "Suisen" developed and manufactured by Fukui Prefecture and others as a "prefectural satellite project" was scheduled to be launched on the 20th of this month, but it was postponed due to technical problems with the rocket.
On the 22nd, Governor Sugimoto and 20 people from companies in the prefecture who were involved in the development of satellites watched the live video of the launch at the Prefectural Industrial Technology Center in Fukui City.
Then, after 3:00 pm Japan time, the Russian spacecraft "Soyuz" carrying the prefectural satellite was successfully launched from the "Baikonur Cosmodrome" in Kazakhstan, and cheers arose from the gathered people.
"Soyuz" reached about 600 km above the sky about 10 minutes after the launch, and "Suisen" was released into outer space at 6:23 pm.
Tetsuji Shindo, Chairman of the Prefectural Satellite Technology Research Association, said, "Since the prefectural satellite is about to start, we would like to continue developing software that will be useful to the prefectural citizens."
Hiroshi Yamaguchi, managing director of Harue Electronics, who was involved in the design of the satellite, said, "I'm glad that it was launched safely. I hope that the prefectural satellite will help develop space-related human resources in Fukui."
Full-scale operation of the prefectural satellite "Suisen" will begin around the summer, and Fukui Prefecture aims to utilize satellite image data in the fields of disaster prevention and environmental conservation.