Japan’s Epsilon rocket launches nine smallsats
Japan today successfully launched nine small satellites into orbit using its smallsat Epsilon rocket.
The article at the link provides a detailed description of all the satellites, which are either testing new technology or were built by college students for educational purposes, including a satellite built by Vietnamese engineers.
Epsilon itself has only flown five times since its first launch in 2013, which suggests its price is high and thus it does not attract many customers.
This was Japan’s second launch in 2021, which means it does not make the leader board. The leaders in the 2021 launch race remains as follows:
41 China
23 SpaceX
18 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
4 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
China still leads the U.S. 41 to 36 in the national rankings.
Japan today successfully launched nine small satellites into orbit using its smallsat Epsilon rocket.
The article at the link provides a detailed description of all the satellites, which are either testing new technology or were built by college students for educational purposes, including a satellite built by Vietnamese engineers.
Epsilon itself has only flown five times since its first launch in 2013, which suggests its price is high and thus it does not attract many customers.
This was Japan’s second launch in 2021, which means it does not make the leader board. The leaders in the 2021 launch race remains as follows:
41 China
23 SpaceX
18 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
4 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
China still leads the U.S. 41 to 36 in the national rankings.