I thought people might be interested in some recent stories about work that other countries are doing in their space programs.
Two research satellites to probe Earth's climate patterns and test ion engine technology to counter atmospheric drag in an unusual low-altitude orbit launched Saturday on top of a Japanese H-2A rocket.
The two Japanese-built spacecraft rocketed away from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 0126:22 GMT Saturday (8:26:22 p.m. EST Friday) inside the H-2A's payload fairing.
Liftoff occurred at 10:26 a.m. Saturday Japan Standard Time.
Mounted on a dual-payload adapter fixture, the satellites were released into two distinct orbits a few hundred miles above Earth by the H-2A's upper stage.
[...] The Shikisai satellite carries a wide-area global imaging instrument package — including a visible and near-infrared radiometer and an infrared scanner — to extend climate observations made by Japan's ADEOS 2 spacecraft, which succumbed to a power failure and ended its mission in 2003.
During its planned five-year mission, the climate monitoring observatory will make "surface and atmospheric measurements related to the carbon cycle and radiation budget, such as clouds, aerosols, ocean color, vegetation, and snow and ice," according to a fact sheet released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Scientists say Shikisai's observations will improve their understanding of climate change, and help numerical climate models predict future changes. The imager will also track phytoplankton, aerosol, and vegetation activity to map fisheries, monitor the transport of dust, and estimate crop yields, according to JAXA.
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/22/h2a-f37-launch-coverage/
