The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on November 6 announced the delay of the launch of its fifth Epsilon solid-fuel rocket that is expected to carry nine small satellites, including Vietnam’s NanoDragon.

JAXA said the rocket will be launched into outer space on November 9 (Screenshot photo)

In its announcement, JAXA said the rocket will be launched into outer space from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima prefecture at between 9:48-9:59 am on November 9 (local time), instead of November 7 as planned due to adverse weather forecast.

Previously, JAXA had to stop launching Epsilon-5 twice. On October 1, about a minute before launching the rocket, JAXA stopped the process to check the machinery system. In another attempt to launch the rocket on October 7, the agency had to cancel its plan because of unfavorable weather.

The NanoDragon, a nano-layer cubesat satellite which weighs 3.8 kilograms, was developed by the Vietnam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. The development of the NanoDragon satellite is part of VNSC's "made in Vietnam" small satellite development roadmap.

Earlier, it was delivered to Japan on August 11 and tested at the Uchinoura Space Centre from August 16-17 before being officially transferred to the JAXA for launching under the second "Innovative satellite technology demonstration" programme.

Source: VNA