Japan plans to develop a new model of its M-5 solid-fuel rocket by 2007, officials of the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science said Thursday.
The new rocket will be an improved version of the current M-5 but will cost about half as much per launch, they said.
The M-5 rocket, developed by ISAS, is about 30 meters long and weighs some 140 tons. It is designed to put satellites of up to 1.8 tons into an orbit of 250 km.
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