Japan today launched into space successfully astronomy satellite
Astro-H, designed to observe X-rays emanating from black holes and
clusters of galaxies.
The satellite was launched aboard an H-2A rocket at 17:45 (8:45 GMT) from the space station on the island of Tanegashima in Kagoshima prefecture (southwest China).
The launch was originally scheduled for February 12 but had to be canceled due to bad weather conditions.
This is 24 consecutive successful launches of the H2-A, developed by the Agency Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.The Astro-H is about 14 meters long and weighs about 2.7 tons, making it the heaviest satellite launched so far by Japan.
The device, manufactured by JAXA and NASA and other American institutions, will orbit 580 kilometers high and observe black holes and distant galactic clusters through its gamma ray detectors and four X-ray telescopesAmong these is the "Micro-calorimeter X-ray" a tool of last generation that has the highest X-ray spectrum observed in space designed to date.
Scientists hope to start making large-scale data from next summer.