Japan's space agency has successfully completed a combustion test of an improved engine for its new small rocket, the Epsilon.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Monday conducted the test at its experimentation site in the city of Noshiro in the northeastern prefecture of Akita.

The engine was tested for more than 2 minutes in a state of vacuum. They said the work went almost as planned.

The first model of the Epsilon was successfully launched in September of 2013. Work has since been under way to enhance the capability of its second-stage engine for a launch of the 2nd model.

The new engine is bigger and has increased thrust, improving the rocket's potential launching ability by about 30 percent.

It can launch satellites weighing 590 kilograms to altitudes of nearly 500 kilometers, compared to the 450 kilograms carried by the previous model.

With the improved engine, the latest Epsilon model will be around 26 meters in length, about 1.6 meters longer, and feature a satellite-carrying bay 10 percent wider.

JAXA officials hope that the rocket will meet the demands of prospective customers, mainly emerging economies, for launching small satellites weighing up to 600 kilograms for land management and other uses.

It is projected that emerging economies and others will want to launch about 5 small satellites every year in and after 2020. Japan is aiming to secure about one such launch order a year.

JAXA also plans to launch an unmanned probe known as Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM, aboard an advanced Epsilon rocket in 4 years. The Epsilon's improved engine is expected to enhance the probe's capability.

The second model of Epsilon is expected to be launched by the spring of 2016 or 2017, carrying a satellite probe to study space around the Earth.

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