Yesterday the Japanese space agency Jaxa successfully launched the Epsilon rocket, which is carrying a telescope, Sprint-A, for planetary observation. Jaxa was able to complete the launch for about $37 million, half the cost of previous Jaxa rockets and cheap compared to an average $450 million NASA launch.
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Affordable is a relative term, but in the world of rocket science Japan’s recently launched Epsilon qualifies as such. Costing just $37-million (albeit not directly comparable, NASA claims a typical launch costs around $450-million) to send off, Jaxa — Japan’s space agency — rightly considers it a steal. Epsilon launched from the south-west of the country at 2pm local time. Its mission? To deploy a telescope that Jaxa advises will observe our neighboring planets from its position in Earth’s orbit. The cost efficiency is being put down to the rocket’s artificial intelligence, something that slashes the man-power needed from 150 to 8. Let’s just hope the thriftiness wasn’t just to fund that other recent launch.
Filed under: Science
Via: BBC
Source: Jaxa
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