Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy reschedules moon rocket launch for Thursday (updated)

Ispace

04/09/2023 07:52

(Updates with more background, JAXA subsidy report)
       TOKYO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries  7011.T  said on Monday it planned to launch its
H-IIA rocket carrying a moon lander on Thursday morning, after
unfavourable wind conditions led to a postponement last month.
        The rocket is scheduled to take off from the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Centre
in southern Japan at 8:42 a.m. JST (Wednesday 2342 GMT), with a
launch window open until Sept. 15, the company said.
  
        The new schedule was announced a week after the 
    previous launch attempt
    , which would have carried Japan's first spacecraft to land
on the moon, was suspended because of high winds. 
  
        H-IIA, jointly developed by JAXA and MHI, has been
Japan's
flagship space launch vehicle, with 45 successful launches in 46
tries since 2001. After JAXA's new medium-lift H3
rocket failed on its debut in March, the agency postponed the
launch of H-IIA No. 47 for several months to investigate the
cause.
  
        Hoping to help accelerate Japan's aerospace development
initiatives, Japan may subsidize JAXA with about 10 billion yen
($68.4 million) in fiscal 2024, the Yomiuri newspaper reported
on Monday.
  
        JAXA will use this subsidy to pay companies and
universities involved in the development of satellites, rockets,
and lunar-exploration technologies, the report said.   


($1 = 146.1300 yen)

 (Reporting by Rocky Swift and Mariko Katsumura; Editing by
Christian Schmollinger and Gerry Doyle)
 ((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))