Tokyo ? A Japanese H-2A rocket successfully took off from its launch pad Saturday carrying a 4.6-ton weather and navigation satellite. The launch from the island of Tanegashima was the ninth of an H-2A, a two-stage launch vehicle.

The liftoff was successful and no problems were immediately reported, said Toshihisa Horiguchi, a spokesman for Japan’s space agency, JAXA.

The satellite would be placed in a geostationary orbit about 22,300 miles above the equator. It is designed to be a backup for the earlier satellite, put into orbit a year ago and later named Himawari, or Sun Flower, whose mission will end in 2010. The newer satellite also will be used as an air traffic control satellite to cope with crowded civil flights in the Asia-Pacific region.