COMMERCIAL FLIGHT IN THE PAST
IST has been established to accelerate development activities and to commercialize the technology. On November 11, 2013 IST was commissioned to launch a pair of small rockets which were painted to advertise products for Ezaki-Glico Corporation, famous for their Mikado (or Pocky & Pretz) confectionery product.
This was a historic event as it was the first rocket commissioned for a commercial launch in Japanese history. IST worked with Hokkaido University, Hokkaido Aerospace Science and Technology Incubation Center (HASTIC), and Uematsu Electric Co Ltd to deliver this milestone service.
The 3.3m long, 23kg rockets were painted to resemble the product and launched to a height of 1126 and 1160m respectively.