2023-12-28 14:54:25
The H3 rocket is scheduled to launch from the southern island of Tanegashima on the morning of February 15th.
Japan’s space agency has announced a third launch attempt for its new launch vehicle following two failed flights. The H3 rocket is scheduled to launch from the southern island of Tanegashima on the morning of February 15, the Japanese Aeronautics and Space Research Agency (Jaxa) announced on Thursday.
The H3 is intended to be cheaper and more reliable than its predecessors and thus compete with other launch vehicles such as the Falcon 9 from the US company SpaceX. The spacecraft was ordered to self-destruct in March following the command center concluded the mission would not be successful.
A first launch attempt in February failed because the solid rocket boosters failed to ignite. The maiden flight of the 63-meter-high, 574-ton rocket was originally planned for the Japanese financial year 2020/21, but was postponed due to technical difficulties.
Developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the H3 follows the H-IIA launch system. After the previous two failures, the rocket will carry a rocket performance verification instrument and two small secondary satellites in February.
Japan’s space ambitions have recently been set back by a series of failures. Last week, a slim space probe nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” was successfully placed into lunar orbit. However, in October 2022, Jaxa had to order the self-destruction of a smaller Epsilon-6 carrier rocket shortly following its launch. In July, the test of an Epsilon-S rocket ended in an explosion just 50 seconds following launch.
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