Japan delays H3 rocket's second launch due to bad weather (updated)

Canon Electronics

13/02/2024 05:40

(Adds details, background, paragraphs 2-7)
    By Kantaro  Komiya
       TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Tuesday it would delay the
launch date of the second model of its new H3 flagship rocket
from the initially planned Feb. 15 because of forecasts of poor
weather.
        The new launch date will be announced later. Weather
conditions at the launch site, Tanegashima Space Center in
southern Japan, appear to set recover late Friday, JAXA's H3
project manager, Masashi Okada, told a news conference.
  
    The launch will come about a year after an unsuccessful
first flight of Japan's new rocket in March led to the loss of a
land observation satellite and a widespread disruption in
Japanese satellite and planetary exploration plans.
        Although JAXA could not identify the direct cause of the
incident, in which the H3 rocket's second-stage engine failed to
ignite, it listed three possible electrical faults in a review
released in October and implemented remedies.
  
        The upcoming H3 launch is 
    characterised
     as "test flight", and carries a dummy mass for fear of
losing another satellite. Two earth observation
micro-satellites, one from Canon Electronics  7739.T  and
another from Seiren Co  3569.T , are onboard as secondary
payloads.
  
        Developed by JAXA and prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries  7011.T , the H3 was meant to replace the
two-decade-old H-IIA rocket and reduce per-launch costs by half
to about five billion yen ($33.4 million).
  
        In the wake of the historic 
    "pinpoint" moon landing
     of its SLIM spacecraft last month, a successful H3 flight
would demonstrate Japan's space capabilities to its close ally
the United States as a counterweight to China's military and
technological might.
  

    ($1 = 149.5300 yen)
  

 (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Christopher Cushing
and Gerry Doyle)
 ((Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @kantarokomiya;))