4th Japanese GPS satellite launched successfully

October 10, 2017

TANEGASHIMA, KAGOSHIMA PREF.- The fourth satellite for the Japanese version of the Global Positioning System was successfully launched Tuesday.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, launched an H-2A rocket carrying the Michibiki No. 4 satellite from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, at 7:01 a.m. (10:01 p.m. Monday GMT).

The government satellite was separated from the rocket about 28 minutes after the liftoff and entered its target quasi-zenith orbit.

The Michibiki satellite system complements the GPS, helping reduce positioning errors in the US system to around one meter. It is also designed to realize positioning accuracy of a few centimeters to several tens of centimeters by using data received by electronic reference stations set up across Japan by the Geospatial Information Authority. Jiji Press