Japan was set to launch its first Venus probe Tuesday, using a rocket that will deploy an experimental "space yacht" propelled by solar particles bouncing off its kite-shaped sail.
The H-IIA rocket was positioned at the Tanegashima space centre in southern Japan in fair weather Monday for its lift-off the next day at 6:44 am (2144 GMT Monday), said the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
It will blast off with the "space yacht" Ikaros -- an acronym for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun -- which moves thanks to the pressure of sunlight particles hitting its square sail.
Ikaros, which has cost 1.5 billion yen (16 million dollars) to develop, will be the first use of the technology in deep space, as past experiments have been limited to unfolding its sail in orbits around the Earth.
The experimental spacecraft's sail, thinner than a human hair, is also equipped with thin-film solar cells to generate electricity, creating what JAXA calls "a hybrid technology of electricity and pressure".
The technology could enable space travel without fuel as long as there is sunlight, its developers say.
JAXA plans to control the path of Ikaros by changing the angle at which sunlight particles bounce off the silver-coloured sail.
Ikaros will initially be a short cylindrical shape when it is released into space, when it will extend its sail, which measures 14 metres (46 feet) on each side and 20 metres diagonally.
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