Japan Successfully Launches H3 Rocket

Tokyo, June 12 (Jiji Press)–The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, successfully launched an H3 rocket on Friday morning, after an unsuccessful launch attempt last December. The H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, at 9:53 a.m. and reached the planned orbit at an altitude of about 580 kilometers in about 15 minutes. The sixth H3 rocket carried six small satellites developed by universities and other organizations. The satellites were also successfully released. Six months after the December failure, the launch was also a test for a low-cost version without a solid rocket booster. JAXA marked an important milestone toward restoring confidence and entering the satellite launch market. “The six months felt short yet long. We’ve come this far thanks to everyone’s support,” Makoto Arita, manager of JAXA’s H3 project team, said with relief at a press conference Friday. The H3 rocket is a two-stage liquid-fuel rocket, jointly developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. from 2014. It is expected to act as a flagship to secure independence in space transport, or carrying satellites and other items without relying on foreign countries. A new liquid-propellant engine was introduced for the first stage to improve launch capability. JAXA aimed to cut costs drastically from the preceding H-2A rocket by reducing the number of parts and increasing the use of commercial off-the-shelf items. The first H3 rocket’s launch in 2023 failed due to a problem in the second-stage engine. Launches succeeded five times in a row from the second unit in 2024 but failed again at the eighth last December. An investigation found that the direct cause was a defective component in a satellite-mounting section, which was broken due to shock during the flight. JAXA took measures such as changes to relevant parts. The H3 series, which JAXA has been eager to introduce to the satellite launch market since the start of its development, has three forms with different capabilities and costs depending on the satellite’s weight and insertion orbit. Among H3 rockets, JAXA has launched type 22 with two liquid engines and two solid rocket boosters and type 24 with two such engines and four such boosters, which has the largest launch capability in the H3 series. The sixth unit is type 30, the simplest and lowest-cost configuration, with only three liquid engines. Although the launch capability is smallest, it is enough for an Earth observation satellite of up to some 4 tons, common for government satellites. If type 30 goes into regular operation, JAXA will be able to achieve its initial goal of halving the launch cost from an H-2A rocket. The sixth H3 rocket is the first large rocket in Japan powered solely by liquid-propellant engines. The technology is expected to be useful for future reusable launch vehicles. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]