Japanese space agency Jaxa has successfully launched the Epsilon rocket that carries a telescope- Sprint-A for planetary observation. It was able to complete its launch for $37 million, which is half the cost of previous Jaxa rockets. The whole thing is also super cheap compared to the average $450 million NASA launch.

Jaxa built the Epsilon smaller than past Japanese rockets and added onboard AI. The rocket actually performs its own safety checks, which reduced the need for staff at the launch from 150 people to eight people. It was also coordinated on two standard PC laptops.

Will this be a trend? Imagine how many more satellites we can send up with this kind of cost structure.

[BBC]