The Japanese Earth observation satellite, Asnaro, was launched on 6 November at 0735 GMT from the Yasniy-Dombarovskiy launch site in the Orenberg region of Russia by a Russian converted ballistic missile, Dnepr 1A. The launch was provided by the commercial launch provider ISC Kosmotras. The 500kg Asnaro satellite, built by the Nippon Electric Company, has a reported resolution of 0.5m panchromatic and 2m resolution multi-spectral with a 10km swath.
Also aboard the flight were four other Japanese-built spacecraft including the 50kg Chubusat 1 spacecraft which will test debris observation technologies, a 60kg lower resolution spacecraft called Hodoyoshi, a 49kg disaster and vegetation monitoring satellite called QSAT-EOS, and a 49kg astronomy demonstration satellite called Tsubaim.
