TOKYO-Japan successfully launched its latest rocket on Friday, carrying a hi-tech satellite to monitor worldwide rainfall and help meteorologists forecast big storms, based on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
In this image released by NASA, a Japanese H-IIA rocket with the NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Worldwide Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory onboard will take off from launch pad hands down the Tanegashima Space Center, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, Tanegashima, Japan. The satellite will collect data from a global network of existing and future satellites to map worldwide rainfall and snowfall every 3 hourfs. AP PHOTO/NASA, BILL INGALLS
The satellite, jointly produced by Japan and america, was created to collect data from other satellites in orbit and add that to its measurements to develop an in depth picture of precipitation round the planet.
Weather forecasters say that with a far more step by step and complete map of rain they'll be better in a position to predict extreme events such as for example typhoons and floods.
On Thursday, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who's now aboard the International Space Station alongside NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Russia’s Mikhail Tyurin, told his 74, 000 Twitter followers that he was longing for a smooth launch.
“From the ISS, I want the success of the launch, ” that he wrote.
