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 The project to launch Sanrio Co Ltd's white cat with a pink bow
into orbit is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to promote
Japan's high-tech industry and engineer economic growth.
A 4-cm (1.6-inch) tall Hello Kitty figure is aboard the Hodoyoshi-3
satellite, looking through a window at Earth, Sanrio announced this
week.
The satellite, which is about the size of a large rubbish bin, was
developed by Japanese researchers as part of a $40 million program
funded by the education and science ministry.
The goal of the project is to get more private companies interested
in working with satellites, said Toshiki Tanaka, researcher in
charge of the project at the University of Tokyo's Nano-Satellite
Center.
 Developers chose Sanrio as their first private partner after judging
that it could get Hello Kitty's many fans interested in space,
Tanaka said.
"Through this project we can make those people interested and
stimulate their scientific curiosity. We can move their hearts,"
Tanaka told Reuters.
The Hello Kitty project, which launched in June, has been one of
trial and error for the Tokyo-based satellite developers.
The researchers have been working on maneuvering the satellite so it
would point in the right direction when taking photos of Hello Kitty
with Earth as a backdrop for the past two months. They also used
special paint to coat the Hello Kitty mascot to protect it from UV
rays, cosmic rays and vacuum space.
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Sanrio has asked fans to submit 180-character messages that Hello
Kitty could deliver from space to friends and family. Sanrio
received 100 submissions in the first day, said Kazuo Tohmatsu, the
company's spokesman.
Hello Kitty, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is Sanrio's
most popular character. The mouthless cat has become a symbol of
Japan's culture of "kawaii," or cute, and is used to market
everything from plush toys to aircraft.
(Reporting By Minami Funakoshi; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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