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Japan's space agency said Wednesday it was delaying the launch of a
satellite aimed at providing high-speed Internet access across Asia
due to a technical problem with its rocket.
Japan was slated Friday to launch
the Kazuna, an experimental satellite looking at how to bring
broadband-speed service across Asia even when terrestrial
infrastructure goes down.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) said it discovered a problem with the gas jet thruster
for its H-2A launch rocket on Tuesday at its station on the southern
island of Tanegashima.
"The new launch date will be
announced as soon as it is determined," a JAXA statement said.
The satellite was jointly
developed by JAXA and industrial giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Ltd., which is handling the launch for the second time since the
H-2A was privatised in April 2007.
Japan, like developing Asian
powers China and India, has been stepping up its space operations.
Japan has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.
Japan faced an embarrassing
failure in November 2003, when it had to destroy a rocket carrying a
spy satellite 10 minutes after lift-off because a booster failed to
separate.
However, Japan's first lunar
probe, Kaguya, was successfully launched last September, releasing
two baby satellites which will be used to study the gravity fields
of the moon among other projects.
The 55-billion-yen
(500-million-dollar) lunar probe is the most extensive mission to
investigate the moon since the US Apollo in the 1960s and 1970s.
Astronaut Takao Doi is also set
to travel on a US shuttle in March to the International Space
Station to set up a scientific testing room for Japan.
-- AFP
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