Japan is taking a new and interesting approach to space satellites in the coming years. As part of the country’s nation business revitalization program and the associated $150 billion 3-year economic stimulus package, Japan is prepping up to 100 mini-satellites to launch into space. Each one is only about the size of a school backpack, weighs 50 kilograms and costs between $3 million and $4 million.
The satellites are to track a range of data types including natural disaster, and will be used to predict traffic patterns and gather weather data. Japan will use Russian rockets to launch the mini-satellites to keep costs down and expect to begin receiving information from orbit in 2011 at the earliest.
