JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (former Nasda) is Japan's version of Nasa.
Japanese Program includes H-IIA rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan.

History:

* Ohsumi was the name of the first Japanese satellite. It was launched on February 11, 1970.

* Toyohiro Akiyama was the first paying passenger on a spaceflight. Toyohiro Akiyama was a Japanese journalist who was sponsored by his television work. He spent a week aboard the Russian Mir Space Station in December. The spaceflight cost $10 million.

* Yohkoh launched August 30 1991 orbited the Sun for over a decade. It made observations via x-ray telescope and provided insight into the behavior of the Sun's corona.

* Mamoru Mohri was the first Japanese astronaut to fly in space as a crew member on Shuttle mission STS-47, September 1992.

* Takao Doi was the first Japanese astronaut to make a space walk. On Shuttle mission STS-87, Doi performed two EVAs for a total of 12 hours, 44 minutes.

* IRTS (Infra Red Telescope in Space) was the first Japanese infrared astronomy satellite. It operated for just one month in 1995.

* Hayabusa was launched 9 May 2003. The probe sent to gather samples from asteroid 25143 Itokawa. After numerous glitches, the probe returned to Earth. Scientists have not yet opened the sample container.

* In 2006, JAXA launched Akari, an infrared astronomy satellite. Its mission is to survey the entire sky in infrared. On 6 August 2007 it has surveyed 94 percent.

* Selene was launched September 14, 2007. Selene was the largest lunar mission since NASA's Apollo, Selene orbited the moon for 20 months. It provided data used to improve topological and gravity maps.

* Oicets - This experimental satellite was designed to demonstrate optical communications between distant satellites. Launched in 2005, it was retired in 2009.

* H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) first flew to the International Space Station on 10 September 2009.

* In 2010 IKAROS probe was the world's first spacecraft to use solar sailing as the main propulsion

* Hope-X was a proposed spaceplane for spaceflight research.

On 21 May 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a new kind of spacecraft. Named IKAROS, a short for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun, this square-shaped craft is propelled through space using the Sun's energy in two different ways. It is embedded with thin solar cells that store sunlight as electricity and it also reflects light particles from the Sun. As the light particles bounce off the sail, they should provide the bulk of the momentum needed to propel the spacecraft.

IKAROS was launched on a H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Island in Japan. The rocket also carried an unmanned Venus probe called Akatsuki (Venus Climate Orbiter) and some small satellites. IKAROS will take the same trajectory as Akatsuki, but will pass by Venus and keep going on its way to the Sun.

The solar sail weighs about 315 kilograms in tidal and cost around £11 million to build and launch. A previous Japanese space organization, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science demonstrated successful deployment of prototype solar sailed in 2004, but the propulsion system remains unproven. However, JAXA is confident that IKAROS will reach its ultimate destination. The challenge will be keeping the solar sail flat, stable and orientated correctly to take in enough sunlight.

The IKAROS membrane
The sail is made of four trapezoid-shaped panels of polymide, a light weight material abbot 32 micrometers thick. It is about 20 metros on the diagonal. One side of the sail has an aluminum layer, which reflects sunlight and provides thrust.

August 8, 2013 Updated
Launch Postponement and Launch Time Change for Epsilon Launch Vehicle with SPRINT-A onboard.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) decided to postpone the launch of the first Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-1) with the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere (SPRINT-A) onboard to August 27, 2013,?from the Uchinoura Space Center as JAXA has taken extra time to rectify the incompatibility* found in the ground support equipment during the communication function test between the Epsilon-1 and the equipment in the course of launch campaign at the launch site. The launch was originally scheduled for August 22, 2013 from the centre.

Scheduled launch day: August 27 (Tue.) 2013
Scheduled launch time window: 1:45 thru 2:30 p.m.

* IRTS (Infra Red Telescope in Space) was the first Japanese infrared astronomy satellite. It operated for just one month in 1995.

* Hayabusa was launched 9 May 2003. The probe sent to gather samples from asteroid 25143 Itokawa. After numerous glitches, the probe returned to Earth. Scientists have not yet opened the sample container.

* In 2006, JAXA launched Akari, an infrared astronomy satellite. Its mission is to survey the entire sky in infrared. On 6 August 2007 it has surveyed 94 percent.

* Selene was launched September 14, 2007. Selene was the largest lunar mission since NASA's Apollo, Selene orbited the moon for 20 months. It provided data used to improve topological and gravity maps.

* Oicets - This experimental satellite was designed to demonstrate optical communications between distant satellites. Launched in 2005, it was retired in 2009.

* H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) first flew to the International Space Station on 10 September 2009.

* In 2010 IKAROS probe was the world's first spacecraft to use solar sailing as the main propulsion

* Hope-X was a proposed spaceplane for spaceflight research.