Japan successfully launches its new H3 missile
Japan successfully launched its new main space launcher, H3, on Saturday, putting its space program back on track after multiple setbacks, including the failure of the rocket's maiden flight last year.
The launch also marks the second consecutive victory for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) after its lunar lander, SLIM, achieved a “millimeter” touchdown last month and made Japan the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon.
Japan, a relatively small player in the space industry by number of launches, is trying to revitalize its program in collaboration with ally the United States to counter China. Furthermore, Japan still has major technological ambitions which, nowadays, also require the ability to bring cargo into orbit.
The H3 lifted off at 9.22am local time (0022 GMT) and after successfully releasing a small satellite, jubilant scientists at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan clapped, shouted and hugged each other. The rocket also released a microsatellite and a dummy satellite, which served as a test launcher, during its nearly two-hour flight. Here is the video of the launch with a brief description of the vehicle.
“The newborn H3 has just let out its first cry,” JAXA project manager Masashi Okada, who led the new rocket's decade-long development, said in a news conference.
“We need to start preparing for the third launch of the H3 as early as tomorrow.”
The H3 is intended to replace the two-decade-old H-IIA, which will be retired after two more launches. Another failed flight would have faced Japan with the prospect of losing independent access to space.
The first launch in March ended with the rocket being destroyed by ground control 14 minutes after liftoff, when the second stage engine failed to ignite. JAXA listed three possible electrical faults in a review published in October, but failed to identify the direct cause.
Five months earlier, JAXA's small Epsilon rocket had also failed to launch.
“I am so happy to see this incredible achievement in the space sector following the success of the SLIM moon landing,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a post on X.
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The article Japan successfully launches its new H3 missile comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-giappone-lancia-con-successo-il-proprio-nuovo-missile-h3/ on Sat, 17 Feb 2024 10:00:10 +0000.