Preview: Japan takes another shot at next-generation H3 rocket launch

Canon Electronics

15/02/2024 02:41

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      JAXA, Mitsubishi Heavy plan second H3 rocket launch on
Saturday
    

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      Attempt follows failed inaugural flight in March 2023
    

        * 
      Key demonstration of Japan's space capability after moon
landing
    

        * 
      Cost reduction to allow more launches, challenge SpaceX's
dominance
    

  
    By Kantaro  Komiya
       TOKYO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Japan will try again this
weekend to launch its new flagship rocket, the H3, in a bid to
restore its space program after the booster's failed inaugural
flight last year derailed satellite and planetary exploration
plans.
    Coupled with the historic "pinpoint" moon landing of its
SLIM spacecraft last month, a successful H3 liftoff would
demonstrate Japan's space capabilities to its close ally the
United States as a counterweight to China's military and
technological might.
    "For Japan, the H3's success is crucial to prove to the
world that it is capable of launching satellites continuously,"
said Kazuto Suzuki, a University of Tokyo professor specialising
in space policy. "Making a good spacecraft is meaningless if you
can't launch it on a rocket."
    The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to
launch its second H3 on Saturday from its Tanegashima Space
Center in southern Japan. JAXA delayed the launch by two days to
avoid high winds and thunders.
    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 as low as five billion yen ($33.2 million).
    But the H3's first flight in March ended up with ground
control destroying the rocket in midflight because its
second-stage engine failed to ignite. JAXA listed three possible
electrical faults in a review released in October but could not
identify the direct cause.
    Two recent H-IIA launches, which had no issues, have raised
hopes for the H3's second attempt, Masayuki Eguchi, head of
Mitsubishi Heavy's defence and space business, said last month.
    H-IIA has successfully flown 47 of 48 times since 2001, but
JAXA will retire it after two more shots.
    The H3's unsuccessful initial flight led to the loss of a 28
billion yen land observation satellite, ALOS-3. The setbacks of
the H3 and another small rocket, Epsilon, have caused widespread
delays in Japanese satellite launches.
    Saturday's H3 launch carries a dumbbell-shaped 2.6-ton dummy
mass simulating a satellite payload. Two earth observation
micro-satellites, one from Canon Electronics  7739.T  and
another from Seiren  3569.T , are onboard as secondary payloads.

'LANDSCAPE HAS DRAMATICALLY SHIFTED'
    JAXA's 63 m (297 ft) H3 rocket can carry a 6.5 ton payload
into space, more than H-IIA's maximum of 6 tons, and fly more
cheaply by adopting simpler structures and automotive-grade
electronics. Launch operator Mitsubishi Heavy hopes to launch
six H3s a year once stable production is established.
    Securing cheap, independent access to the space is the H3's
biggest mission, as Japan envisions increasingly ambitious space
plans with more frequent launches. The H3 is also tasked with
carrying a lunar lander for the joint Japan-India LUPEX project
and a cargo spacecraft for the U.S.-led Artemis moon exploration
program.
    Another objective is to win orders from global clients, as
satellite launch demands have skyrocketed thanks to affordable
commercial vehicles such as SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9. The
European Space Agency also plans to launch its lower-cost Ariane
6 for the first time this year, following the successful
inaugural flight last month of the United Launch Alliance Vulcan
rocket, a joint venture between Boeing  BA.N  and Lockheed
Martin  LMT.N .
    "The landscape has dramatically shifted in the decade since
we started the H3's development," Masashi Okada, JAXA's H3
project manager, told a news conference on Tuesday.
    Okada said that the H3 could tap into the burgeoning demand
for launch vehicles but that it would require "various and
continual efforts" to adjust to market needs and competition.
    Unlike SpaceX's agile development process centred around
frequent test flights, Japan's engineering style focuses on
eliminating errors, which led to the 11-month pause after the
failed H3 launch, said Ko Ogasawara, Tokyo University of Science
professor and a former Mitsubishi Heavy aerospace engineer.
    "This may appear slow ... but we are taking the most
reliable path with minimum resources," Ogasawara said.
    In the small rocket market, Tokyo-based startup Space One
will launch its Kairos on March 9, while JAXA has not been able
to schedule the first launch of new Epsilon S. Kairos hopes to
mark Japan's second commercial rocket series to reach space
after Interstellar Technologies' MOMO in 2019.

($1 = 150.5000 yen)

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