It was night in Japan when the Core Observatory satellite, part of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM), was launched on a H-IIA 202 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center, run by JAXA, the Japanese space agency, on the island of Tanegashima. After about 16 minutes, the satellite separated from the second stage of the rocket and successfully entered low Earth orbit. In the following minutes, it deployed its solar panels and started sending signals, confirming that it works.