HIMAWARI-9 NEXT GENERATION WEATHER SATELLITE LAUNCH

The Himawari-9 the backup for the next generation weather satellite Himawari-8 is set to launch Wednesday afternoon at 3:20PM Japan time if all goes to plan. Remember space is hard so any launch is always nerve racking, especially with a billion dollar weather satellite on board. In 1999 the weather satellite Mirai 1 failed at launch in Tanegashima.

You can watch the launch live or on replay below via JAXA

The weather plays a important role in the launch itself, and at least for today after a 24hr delay from Tuesday due to weather it looks like the forecast is a go.

Meanwhile if you want to read up a little about the Himawari-8 and now the 9 check out the following links, plenty of great information there.

http://www.jma-net.go.jp/msc/en/support/index.html

http://fanfun.jaxa.jp/jaxatv/