Japan launches high-speed communications satellite

Japan's space agency on Saturday launched an experimental communications satellite to enable super high-speed data transmission at home and in Southeast Asia.

The domestically developed H-2A rocket carrying the satellite, Kizuna, was launched from the southern island of Tanegashima, according to a live internet broadcast by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA.

The satellite, equipped with two large multi-beam antennas, separated from the rocket and successfully entered its intended orbit 280 kilometres from Earth, JAXA said in a statement.

The agency said it hoped to enable data transmission of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second at a low cost across Japan and in 19 different places in Southeast Asia through Kizuna, which JAXA developed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Japan has yet to join the lucrative international satellite market, and Kizuna, which should be in operation for five years, is not intended for commercial use. Its large H-2A rocket is one of the most advanced and reliable in the world, and Saturday's was its eighth straight successful launch.

Japan launched its first satellite in 1970 and has achieved several major scientific coups in space, including launching a probe that collected samples from an asteroid.

The countryis racing to catch up with regional rival China, which has put astronauts in space twice since 2003, and was the third country to send a human into orbit after Russia and the United States.

Japan has since announced plans to send its first astronauts into space and set up a base on the moon by 2025.

In February 2007, the agency launched its fourth intelligence-gathering satellite amid concerns over neighbouring North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs.