The space agency said the H-IIA rocket was upgraded for the occasion, allowing it to place the satellite closer to its geostationary orbit than past models could.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga expressed hope that the launch would demonstrate the quality of Japanese rocket engineering, and would lead to orders from the global private sector.
Mitsubishi Heavy plans to aggressively market the H-IIA for satellite launches both in Japan and overseas, as well as continuing to play a key role in the Japanese space industry, MHI Vice President Naohiko Abe said in a statement following the launch.
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