Japan launched a new spacecraft on a two-year mission to study the planet Venus and its climate.

A rocket carrying the Venus climate orbiter called Akatsuki blasted off from a Japanese space centre in Kagoshima, southern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

Akatsuki means "dawn" in Japanese.

Akatsuki is expected to reach Venus' orbit in December. The orbiter will circle the planet for two years to examine its climate, including clouds, temperature and wind power, the agency said.

The development cost of Akatsuki was around 25 billion yen (circa €223 billion).

The Venus mission follows Japan's first lunar probe, which completed a 19-month mission last year. The lunar project was to create a detailed map of the moon's surface and examine its mineral distribution.

Japan launched its first satellite in 1970 and achieved several major scientific coups in space, including the launch of a probe that made a rendezvous with an asteroid.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.