Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced that the H-2A rocket carrying the first of two Inmarsat-6 satellites of a British Inmarsat Globa company has been successfully launched. It was stated that the rocket, which took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, entered the planned orbit approximately 26 minutes later. The launch was initially scheduled for earlier this week, but was put off due to bad weather. Insarmat-6 is reported to be the world’s largest commercial communication satellite.
Developed jointly by the Japan Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the H2A rocket is known to be an advanced version of the previous model H2 rocket, which has been redesigned to increase safety and minimize costs.