TSUKUBA, Ibaraki -- A start-up company will begin a service to release marriage commemoration plaques into outer space via satellite.
The plaques will be loaded onto artificial satellites that will then be released from the International Space Station. As the satellite is released from the ISS, astronauts will take photographs that will be given to the couples. The first launch is scheduled to take place in fiscal 2019.
The service will be carried out by Warpspace Inc., a start-up formed by faculty members of the University of Tsukuba and others, based in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.
The couples' names, messages and other information will be engraved on a titanium plaque about 16-millimeters by eight-millimeters. The plaques will be loaded onto miniature cubic satellites with sides measuring about 10 centimeters, and the satellites will be carried to the ISS by Japan-launched cargo transfer shuttle Konotori and other spacecraft.
The satellite can hold several hundred plaques, the company said. The start-up will release its satellites from Kibo, the Japanese space lab module on the ISS.
"I hope couples will think about space and pledge their infinite love to each other," said Toshihiro Kameda, Warpspace president and an associate professor of the university.
The service is available to couples who tie the knot at Okura Frontier Hotel Tsukuba, located in the city of Tsukuba. Each plaque will cost about 30,000 yen.
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