The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that its forthcoming communications satellite will be nicknamed "Kizuna," meaning "ties" or "bonds."

The nickname fits the Wideband InterNetworking Engineering Test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS), as it a super-high speed Internet satellite, scheduled to be launched in the coming winter launch season. Here it is depicted in an artist's rendering.

The nickname was chosed by polling the general public. "Kizuna" was nominated 452 times out of 9,657 received suggestions, and the name reflects the hope that it will aid in bonding people.

Kizuna is now undergoing its final verification test at the Tsukuba Space Center. Its launch operations will start in early November at the Tanegasima Space Center.

JAXA's current lunar mission, the Kaguya spacecraft has successfully entered orbit around Earth's moon.

--JAXA and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: JAXA