8.09.2021
Japan’s H3 rocket awaiting final engine certification for first flight
Japan’s third-generation liquid hydrogen-powered rocket, H3, is nearing closer to its first launch. The H3 rocket is co-developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), succeeding the H-II family, which provided satellite launches and International Space Station cargo resupply missions for two decades.
The H3 rocket is the third in Japan’s hydrogen-powered rocket family. The first was the H-I rocket used from 1986 to 1992. Then, the vehicle used an American-built Extended Long Tank Thor (ELTT) with either six or nine Caster-2 solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
This was the first Japanese rocket to use a Japanese-built cryogenic second stage using their new LE-5 engine. The H-I was 2.44 meters in diameter and had a height of 42 meters. The H-I successfully flew nine times with a 100% success record.
The H-I was replaced in 1994 by the H-II, the first all Japanese-built liquid rocket. The ELTT first stage was replaced by a Japanese-built first stage now powered by a single LE-7 hydrolox engine. H-II also included a single upgraded LE-5A hydrolox second-stage engine and twin Japanese-built solid rocket boosters.
The rocket was 4 meters in diameter with a height of 49 meters. It flew seven times from 1994 to 1999 with five successful launches. The H-II was then retired in favor of the H-IIA and H-IIB rockets.
H-IIA is Japan’s main launch system currently in operation. It uses a single LE-7A first-stage hydrolox engine, a single LE-5B second-stage hydrolox engine, and two or four SRB-A solid rocket boosters. H-IIA is the same 4-meter diameter as H-II but taller at 53 meters. H-IIA took its maiden flight in 2001 and currently sits at 43 launches with 42 successes.
Launch of the H-IIA Flight 40 with IBUKI-2 (GOSAT-2) and KhalifaSat – via JAXA
H-IIB was a more powerful version of H-IIA to support the now-retired Kounotori H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). The rocket used two LE-7A engines on the first stage and the same second stage as the H-IIA. H-IIB was larger than H-IIA at 5.2 meters in diameter at 56.6 meters tall. It launched nine ISS resupply missions from 2009 to 2020 with a 100% success record.
The H3 program started in 2014 to replace the aging H-II family to lower the overall cost per launch. More similar to the H-IIB than the H-IIA, H3 is a two-stage expendable launch system with three main configurations. H3 will be 5.2 meters in diameter with an approximate height of 63 meters, making H3 the largest rocket Japan has ever built.
The H3 will have a starting price of $45 million (about 5 billion Japanese Yen) per launch, making it about half the price of the H-IIA.
The first stage of the H3 will use two or three LE-9 hydrolox rocket engines, the newest rocket engine Japan has developed for a space launch vehicle. Derived from the LE-5 rocket engine, the LE-9 will generate 1472 kN of thrust with a specific impulse of 425 seconds. In addition, the engine will use an expander bleed cycle, similar to the American BE-3U rocket engine developed by Blue Origin.
The first LE-9 engine was assembled and installed at the Tanehashima Space Center rocket engine test stand in March 2017. Designed by JAXA, the engine is manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
The first engine, model 1-1, successfully completed 11 of its 11 planned engine tests from April 2017 to July 2017. Most tests successfully completed full-duration burns lasting from two to 78 seconds. However, engine tests three, eight, and nine all ended early due to issues with turbopump rotation speeds.
From 2017 to 2019, four more development LE-9 engines were also successfully tested.
In early 2020, MHI and JAXA started testing the first certification engine for use on the H3 rocket. During its eighth of 14 planned tests, an issue was found with the combustion chamber wall and the LH2 turbopump. The combustion wall and turbopump were found to have fatigue fractures.
These issues were fixed but have caused the first launch to be delayed from late 2020 to 2021. In 2021, the LE-9 engine has continued to undergo certification tests, with the second certified engine currently on its third of ten tests.
The H3 test tank and LE-9 engines going through the “Battleship” test – via JAXA
The LE-9 engine completed several important milestones in 2019 and 2020 with the “Battleship” firing tests. The first test was completed in January 2019, using two engines on a first stage test tank. In 2020, a three-engine “Battleship” test was conducted, also using a first-stage test tank. These tests gave MHI and JAXA data to see how the engines will react to the stresses of multiple engines firing at once.
Either two or three LE-9 engines will power the first stage of the H3 rocket. Two engines will be used on the first stage if any SRBs are used for the launch, while three engines will be used if no SRBs are to be flown. The first stage will generate 2,942 kN or 4,413 kN of thrust, depending on how many engines are used for the flight.
The SRB to be used on the H3 rocket is the SRB-3. The SRB-3 design is derived from the SRB-A, which is used on the H-IIA and Epsilon rockets. SRB-3 will be slightly shorter than its predecessor but has more solid propellant and generates more thrust at 2,158 kN. Zero, two, or four of these boosters can be used on the H3 rocket first stage.
The first completed SRB-3 underwent its static fire test in August 2018. Two more tests took place in 2019 and 2020 to certify SRB-3 for H3. In addition, a full-scale separation test was also completed in 2019.
The first stage and optional SRBs will accelerate the second stage, payload fairing, and payload(s) to space. The second stage, powered by a single LE-5B-3 hydrolox engine, will place itself and the payload(s) into the intended orbit.
The LE-5B-3 is the latest version of the LE-5 engine. The new variant is designed to improve performance while reducing the cost of the engine. LE-5B-3 will generate 137 kN of thrust with a specific impulse of approximately 448 seconds. It will be using an expander bleed cycle just like the LE-9 engine.
Evolution of Japanese hydrolox engines – via JAXA
The LE-5B-3 first conducted its own certification test in 2017 and has successfully undergone 20 engine firings. A second engine was tested throughout 2018 and 2019 to complete the certification of the engine.
The second stage will also have the payload fairing on top of it to protect its payload(s). The fairing will have two short and long variants, but both will be 5.2 meters in diameter. In December 2019, a fairing separation test was successfully completed.
All of these successful tests culminated in the assembly of the H3 Test Flight No. 1 (TF1) launch vehicle. In 2020, the engines were installed on the first and second stages of the TF1. This allowed the rocket to undergo functional tests while at the Tobishima Plant in the Aichi Prefecture.
In January 2021, testing was completed, and the rocket was shipped to the Tanegashima Space Center. A month later, the rocket, along with two SRB-3s, was placed on Movable Launcher 5 (ML-5) in the H-IIB Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The operation, known as Vehicle On Stand (VOS), was the last important milestone before the rocket would conduct a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR). A mockup payload fairing was placed on top of the second stage.
In March 2021, the H3 rocket was rolled out to the Yoshinobu Launch Complex (LC-Y) Pad 2. After arriving at Pad 2, the rocket was loaded with Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen for the WDR.
A Wet Dress Rehearsal, or WDR, is where a rocket is fueled in order to test the rocket, countdown procedures, and grounds systems before a launch. The rocket went into the launch countdown until T-8 seconds, when the clock was stopped as planned. The test was completed, and the fuel was unloaded. Shortly thereafter, the rocket was rolled back to the VAB. Inspections were completed, and the vehicle was confirmed to be in healthy condition.
H3 on LC-Y Pad 2 ready for the WDR – via JAXA
Since then, H3 has been waiting in the VAB for future testing and final certification of the LE-9 engine. TF1 is scheduled to launch in Q1 2022 with the Advanced Land Observation Satellite 3 (ALOS-3).
TF1 will launch in an H3-22S configuration. The first digit of the configuration shows how many LE-9 engines are on the first stage, which can either be a two or three. The second digit shows how many SRB-3s will support the mission. And the final letter states which fairing is being used.
For ALOS-3, it will launch with two LE-9 engines, two SRB-3s, and the short payload fairing. H3 will take ALOS-3 to a 669-kilometer orbit at 97.8 degrees inclination, a Sun-Synchronous Orbit.
With these rocket configurations, H3 will be able to lift up to 3 tons to a Sun-Synchronous Orbit or 6.5 tons to a 1.5 km/s Geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), meaning a transfer orbit where 1.5 km/s of Delta-V is required to reach the operational Geostationary orbit.
Once H3 becomes operational, the H-IIA will be retired in 2023. H3 will later support commercial communication satellites, science, and exploration missions, including the HTV-X ISS cargo resupply ship.
The HTV-X (Kotonotori) is JAXA’s next-generation cargo resupply ship for the ISS. The Kotonotori is designed to lower the vehicle’s overall mass while allowing more unpressurized cargo to the ISS. It will be able to be berthed to the ISS for up to six months and free fly in orbit for up to 18 months. It is scheduled to launch for the first time in late 2022 on an H3-24L.
Both H3 and Kotontori will also have a possibility of supporting NASA’s Gateway Lunar space station. A future variant of the H3 will be a tri-core H3 Heavy rocket to carry the HTV-XG variant to lunar orbit. HTV-XG will also possibly launch on other smaller H3 variants or American launch vehicles like Falcon Heavy. An HTV-XG could launch as early as 2025 and H3 Heavy as early as 2030.
Quelle: NS
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Update: 26.01.2022
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Japan’s H3 rocket further delayed by engine woes
TOKYO — The launch of Japan’s new workhorse H3 rocket has been postponed again as engineers continue to wrestle with engine problems first uncovered in 2020 during qualification testing.
After spending most of 2020 and all of 2021 struggling with the expendable H3’s novel LE-9 main engine, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) told reporters last week that the H3 will not be ready to launch by the end of March as previously hoped.
No new date has been set for H3’s first flight, but JAXA officials said it would not occur sooner than April and hopefully no later than March 2023.
“We will talk about the revised launch schedule as soon as possible,” JAXA’s H3 project manager, Masashi Okada, said during a Jan. 21 press conference here.
JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) are building the H3 rocket as a more flexible successor to Japan’s H-2A medium-lift launch vehicle. Like the workhorse H-2 family of rockets Japan has been using for satellite launches since the 1990s, the H3’s two-stage core is powered by MHI-built engines that use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants.
But instead of using a single LE-7A first-stage engine and at least one pair of side-mounted solid rocket boosters (SRB) like the 20-year-old H-2A, the H3 can fly with zero, two, or four strap-on boosters and either two or three LE-9 first-stage engines in order to carry a wider range of payloads to a wider range of orbits.
The H3 rocket’s LE-9 is not only a more powerful engine than H-2A’s LE-7. It also employs a novel design, called an expander bleed cycle, that Mitsubishi was the first to introduce with its LE-5A upper stage engine.
The H3 stands to be the first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle engine for its first stage, a design choice meant to yield higher engine thrust at the expense of efficiency.
Bad vibes
Japan authorized development of the H3 rocket in 2013, got started in 2014, and at one time hoped to conduct the first of two test launches in 2020.
But those hopes were dashed by May 2020 when problems with the LE-9 engine emerged during the H3’s qualification testing.
Engineers discovered cracked turbine blades in the LE-9’s turbopump assembly, and a hole burned into the engine’s combustion chamber wall.
JAXA and MHI got to work redesigning the engine’s fuel turbopump and decided to apply those same changes to the engine’s oxygen turbopump to be on the safe side, Okada said.
In September 2020, JAXA announced that H3’s first test flight would slip to no earlier than spring 2021.
JAXA and MHI turned their focus to the combustion chamber problem as new turbopump hardware got underway.
Okada said a series of nine combustion tests convinced JAXA that it could stick with the LE-9’s current combustion chamber design for H3’s first test flight — carrying Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3) — by sacrificing some performance. For H3’s second test flight, carrying ALOS-4, Okada said JAXA and MHI would switch to a 3D-printed combustion chamber they think will solve the problem for good.
“We have been able to establish a workaround for the combustion chamber issue,” Okada said during the Jan. 21 press briefing, summing up the past couple years of LE-9 problems and their remedies. “For the turbopump issue, while some progress has been made, further action is needed to ensure a reliable launch.”
In January 2021, MHI shipped the H3 Flight Test-1 core stage to Tanegashima Space Center. Last March, JAXA rolled the H3 out the launchpad for a wet dress rehearsal — a practice countdown where the rocket is loaded with propellant but the engines are not ignited.
The rehearsal, which involved test versions of the first-stage engines, appeared to go well. There was no turbopump damage, but JAXA said engineers saw some potentially problematic vibrations.
By June 2021, the vibration problem improved, but a new problem — described as a turbine flutter — was found.
Work continued into the fall, with engineers installing dampers and making adjustments to eliminate vibration sources.
JAXA still doesn’t know if the redesigned turbopumps are good to go. Captive firing testing of the integrated rocket remains on hold, with no date currently set.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa said Jan. 21 that while the H3 team is not pleased to have postponed the launch a second time in as many years, “it was judged that it was necessary to take appropriate measures … before finalizing the design.”
Quelle: SN
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Update: 15.02.2023
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JAXA delays Japan's H3 rocket launch to Feb 17 citing weather conditions
Feb 14 (Reuters) - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will delay the maiden launch of its heavy-lift H3 rocket to Feb. 17 from Feb. 15 due to weather conditions, the space agency said on Tuesday.
"As a result of today's weather assessment, it is anticipated that weather conditions on the day of the launch will not be suitable, so changes will be made as a precautionary measure," it said in a statement.
The H3 rocket will carry a new land observation satellite, which will also be fitted with an experimental infrared sensor designed to detect missile launches.
Quelle: Reuters
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Update: 18.02.2023
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Japan's new H3 rocket aborts 1st-ever launch attempt
The H3's two solid rocket boosters did not ignite as planned during Thursday's (Feb. 16) try.
Japan's powerful new rocket will have to wait a bit longer to get off the ground.
The H3 rocket aborted its first-ever launch attempt on Thursday evening (Feb. 16), a test flight from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center that was supposed to send an Earth-observing satellite to orbit.
The H3 made it all the way through the countdown to T-0, which occurred as planned at 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT and 10:37 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Feb. 17). The two LE-9 engines that power the vehicle's core stage ignited, but its two solid rocket boosters did not, commentators said during the livestream of the launch, which was provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
During the countdown, "an anomaly was found in the first-stage system, and ignition signals for SRB-3s were not sent," JAXA officials wrote in a brief update on Friday(opens in new tab), referring to the two solid rocket boosters. The nature and cause of that anomaly was not specified; further investigation will doubtless focus on those questions.
Thursday's abort adds to the delays in the H3's journey to orbit. JAXA and its commercial partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, have been developing the rocket for a decade.
JAXA has high hopes for the H3, which is designed to be flexible and cost-effective. The new vehicle will soon replace Japan's workhorse H-IIA rocket, if all goes according to plan.
The satellite that was supposed to fly today is called the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3(opens in new tab)), also known as DAICHI-3.
The 3-ton ALOS-3 will be able to resolve features as small as 2.6 feet (0.8 meters) wide on our planet's surface from its final perch in low Earth orbit, JAXA officials have said. Its observations will have many applications, including disaster monitoring and response.
Thursday's planned launch was originally targeted for Tuesday (Feb. 14), but bad weather caused a two-day delay.
Japan has launched one orbital mission so far this year: An H-IIA successfully delivered Japan's IGS Radar 7 surveillance satellite to orbit on Jan. 25.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 17 to clarify that both solid rocket boosters, not just one, failed to ignite as planned during the Feb. 16 launch attempt. It was updated again at 12:20 p.m. ET on Feb. 17 to include the update from JAXA.
Quelle: SC
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First launch of Japan’s H3 rocket aborted moments before liftoff
Japan’s first H3 rocket, nearly a decade in development, was moments from liftoff Thursday (U.S. time) when the launch vehicle detected a problem and cut off the countdown just before sending a command to ignite two strap-on solid-fueled boosters.
The H3 rocket’s two hydrogen-fueled main engines ignited about 6.3 seconds before liftoff, sending a plume of exhaust out of the flame trench at the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan. But the H3’s dual solid rocket boosters did not light when the countdown clock struck zero.
“During the automatic countdown sequence of the rocket, the first stage vehicle system detected an abnormality and did not send out the solid rocket booster (SRB-3) ignition signal, so today’s launch was canceled,” the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a statement.
JAXA officials did not provide any more details on the problem that prevented the 187-foot-tall (57-meter) H3 rocket from taking off Thursday at 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT Friday). The launch team began preparations to drain cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the two-stage rocket as engineers analyzed data to find the cause of the abort.
The H3 rocket’s countdown was running on a computer-controlled sequencer, which checks numerous parameters in the final moments before launch to ensure engines, avionics, and other systems are ready for liftoff.
JAXA did not set a new target launch date for the inaugural flight of the H3 rocket, which will replace Japan’s workhorse H-2A rocket and the already-retired H-2B launch vehicle.
Japan’s space agency started development of the H3 rocket in 2013, with a goal of slashing in half the cost per launch of the H-2A rocket, which has been in service since 2001. The new rocket has a cheaper, lighter, and more powerful version of the hydrogen-fueled engine that flies on the H-2A rocket, and flies with two or three main engines instead of a single powerplant on the core stage of the H-2A.
The maiden flight of the H3 rocket will have two LE-9 core stage engines, each producing more than 330,000 pounds of thrust, a third more power than the LE-7A engine used on the H-2A rocket. Future H3 missions could fly with three main engines, allowing the rocket to lift off without the need for any solid rocket boosters.
Engineers also upgraded the H-2A rocket’s solid rocket boosters for the H3 program, with the new SRB 3 solid-fueled motors on the H3 rocket capable of generating 20% more thrust. Designers achieved cost savings by simplifying the connection between the boosters and the core stage of the H3 rocket, and by using a fixed nozzle on the SRB 3 motor, instead of a vectoring nozzle on the H-2A rocket’s solid-fueled boosters.
And the H3’s upper stage has a single LE-5B-3 hydrogen-fueled engine capable of multiple firings in space. It’s a modernized version of the LE-5B engine flown on the H-2A rocket.
The development of the H3 rocket cost about 200 billion yen, or $1.5 billion.
The first test flight of the H3 was delayed from 2020 due to problems during testing of the new LE-9 main engine, which employs an expander bleed cycle more often used on lower-thrust upper stage engines. The expander bleed cycle uses super-cold hydrogen fuel to cool the engine’s combustion chamber, then the heated hydrogen gas is used to drive the engine’s fuel and oxidizer turbopumps. The H-2A rocket’s LE-7A engine uses a different design operating on a staged combustion cycle.
The LE-9 also introduces electrically actuated valves and new manufacturing techniques, including 3D printing of components.
Engineers discovered cracked rotor blades in the LE-9 engine’s fuel turbopump after hotfire testing in 2020, and found holes in the internal wall of the engine’s combustion chamber. The engine development team redesigned the turbine blades and the fuel and oxidizer turbopumps to resolve the problems, then performed more hotfire tests before clearing the H3 rocket for its inaugural test flight.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries led the Japanese industrial team developing the H3 rocket under contract with JAXA, Japan’s space agency. MHI also led the design and development of the cryogenic liquid-fueled LE-9 and LE-5B-3 engines. IHI Aerospace developed the solid rocket boosters, building on the design used on the H-2A rocket. Japan Aviation Electronics Industry Ltd. worked on the H3 rocket’s guidance system.
MHI aims to launch the H3 rocket for as low as $50 million per mission, about 50% of the cost of an H-2A rocket flight. Japan has launched 46 H-2A missions, plus nine flights of the heavier H-2B rocket on resupply missions to the International Space Station. A handful of H-2A rockets remain to fly, and the H-2B is already retired.
The H3 rocket comes in four configurations, with the number of main engines, solid rocket boosters, and the size of the payload fairing adjustable based on mission requirements. The H3 rocket for Test Flight 1, or TF1, will fly in the H3-22S configuration with two first stage engines, two strap-on solid rocket boosters, and a short payload fairing.
According to JAXA, the H3 rocket in its most powerful configuration can launch payloads of up to 6.5 metric tons into geostationary transfer orbit, a destination favored by many large telecommunications satellites. That is comparable to the lift capability of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Japanese engineers completed a hold-down test-firing of the first H3 rocket’s main engines at Tanegashima in November, then integrated the two solid-fueled strap-on motors and the payload fairing ahead of the launch attempt this month. Thursday’s countdown was the first time an H3 countdown proceeded with the solid rocket boosters attached to the core stage.
The H3 rocket will launch Japanese scientific satellites, intelligence-gathering and national security spacecraft, and Japan’s new HTV-X resupply freighter for the International Space Station. Japan also plans to use the H3 rocket to launch a version of the HTV-X supply ship to the Gateway mini-space station NASA and other space agencies will construct in orbit around the moon.
MHI and JAXA hope to attract commercial launch business for the H3 rocket, which will compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, ULA’s Vulcan launch vehicle, and Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket. The latter two vehicles are expendable in design, and have not yet flown, while the Falcon 9 is partially reusable and commands a leading position in the global commercial launch market.
When it lifts off, the first H3 rocket will initially head east from Tanegashima to place a Japanese Earth observation satellite into orbit for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The Advanced Land Observing Satellite 3, or ALOS 3, mission will collect wide-swath, high-resolution images of land surfaces around the world, providing observations for disaster management, mapping, and environmental monitoring.
The two LE-9 engines and twin strap-on boosters will generate 1.6 million pounds of thrust at full power, accelerating the H3 launcher into the sky over Tanegashima.
The two solid rocket boosters will burn out and jettison to fall into the Pacific at T+plus 1 minute and 56 seconds. The payload fairing on top of the rocket will release in a clamshell-like fashion at T+plus 3 minutes and 34 seconds, revealing the ALOS 3 spacecraft once it is out of the discernible atmosphere.
After turning onto a more southerly course, the main stage of the H3 rocket will shut down its two engines at T+plus 4 minutes and 58 seconds, followed by stage separation seven seconds later. Ignition of the upper stage LE-5B-3 engine is expected at T+plus 5 minutes and 17 seconds.
The upper stage will burn more than 11 minutes before releasing the more than 6,000-pound (3-ton) ALOS 3 spacecraft at T+plus 16 minutes and 57 seconds at an altitude of about 420 miles (675 kilometers). ALOS 3 will unfurl its solar arrays to begin a seven-year Earth observation mission.
Quelle: SN
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Update: 19.02.2023
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JAXA eyes H3 rocket retry by early March
Japanese space agency officials are working to find out why their new flagship rocket did not lift off on Friday. They say they could make another attempt by early March.
The H3 was due to blast off on its maiden voyage from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.
It was carrying an Earth observation satellite for improving disaster management.
Footage showed the H3's main engine igniting, and a large plume of smoke, but the rocket did not lift off.
Officials say an anomaly was found in the first stage system, and ignition signals for the booster rockets were not sent.
They plan to remove the fuel and send the rocket back to the assembly building as early as Saturday morning.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, project manager Okada Masashi indicated that engineers could try another launch by March 10.
The H3 was initially slated to blast off in fiscal 2020. The date was pushed back twice because of difficulties with the engine.
Quelle: NHK
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Update:4.03.2023
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Launch Schedule of the Advanced Land Observation Satellite-3 “DAICHI-3”
(ALOS-3) aboard the first H3 Launch Vehicle (H3 TF1)
[Rescheduled]
March 3, 2023 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had scheduled to launch the first H3 Launch Vehicle (H3 TF1: Test Flight No.1) with the Advanced Land Observation Satellite-3 “DAICHI-3” (ALOS-3) onboard on February 17, but the launch was cancelled due to an anomaly detected in the first-stage flight control system right before its scheduled launch.
As a result of the investigation, it is estimated that the first-stage flight controller malfunctioned due to transient fluctuations in the communication and power lines that occurred during electrical separation between the rocket and the ground facilities. Necessary countermeasures are expected to be completed within the launch period.
Based on the above investigation and the status of the countermeasures, the new launch date for the first H3 Launch Vehicle has been set as follows;
| Launch date | : March 6, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Launch time | : 10:37:55 a.m. (JST) through 10:44:15 a.m. (JST) |
| Reserved Launch Period | : March 7 through March 10, 2023 |
We will reassess whether the launch on March 6 will be possible or not based on the weather conditions.
+++
The H3 Launch Vehicle is Japan's new flagship rocket aiming at achieving high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost performance. Its maiden flight is set for JFY 2020. H3 will offer several lineups by selection of two types of fairings, two or three first-stage engines (LE-9), and zero, two or four solid rocket boosters (SRB-3) to deal with various payload sizes and orbits. Its launch capability to the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) will be the highest ever, exceeding that of the existing H-IIA and H-IIB Launch Vehicles.
H3 is under development to be a successor to H-IIA and H-IIB so that Japan can maintain its autonomous access to space to launch satellites and probes including important missions for the government. We are eager to launch commercial satellites every year as well.
JAXA and its prime contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and other related companies are all hands on deck from the development phase to leverage their experiences to renovate the whole system for producing a low cost, flexible and reliable rocket.
Quelle:JAXA
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Update: 6.03.2023
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JAXA Delays H3 Rocket Launch to Tues.
Tokyo, March 4 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, announced Saturday that it will postpone the launch of the country's first H3 rocket from Monday to Tuesday.
Thick clouds are forecast to spread over the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Monday, possibly triggering thunderstorms, according to JAXA.
The new launch window is set for between 10:37:55 a.m. (1:37:55 a.m. GMT) and 10:44:15 a.m. Tuesday.
Quelle:Jiji Press
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Update: 7.03.2023
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The First Launch of the H3 Launch Vehicle (H3/TF1)
The first H3 Launch Vehicle (H3/TF1:Test Flight No.1) launched the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3) “Daichi-3” from the Tanegashima Space Center, on 7 March 2023, at 01:37 UTC (10:37 local time). Because the second stage engine did not ignite as planned, a disctruct command has been sent and the mission was declared lost. The H3 Launch Vehicle is JAXA’s “new flagship rocket aiming at achieving high flexibility, high reliability, and high cost performance”. H3 is designed to offer several variants with “two types of fairings, two or three first-stage engines (LE-9), and zero, two or four solid rocket boosters (SRB-3) to deal with various payload sizes and orbits”. Credit: JAXA
Quelle:JAXA
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Japan forced to destroy flagship H3 rocket in failed launch
Japan was forced to blow up its new rocket during a failed launch on Tuesday, setting back efforts to crack a market led by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Its space agency had to send a self-destruct command to the H3 rocket when its second-stage engine failed minutes after lift-off.
Observers say it is a significant setback for Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa).
The government called the test failure "extremely regrettable".
The H3 rocket is the first medium-lift rocket designed by Japan in three decades.
It has been presented as a cheaper alternative to SpaceX's Falcon 9 for launching commercial and government satellites into Earth's orbit.
On Tuesday, engineers had aimed to send the 57m (187ft) rocket into space with a monitoring satellite on board. The ALOS-3 system is capable of detecting North Korean missile launches.
But Jaxa said soon after launch, engineers were forced to send a self-destruct prompt to the H3 after it experienced "reduced velocity" in the second stage of its launch.
Tuesday's launch came after an aborted launch in February, when the rocket failed to get off the launch pad due to faulty rocket boosters.
"Unlike the previous cancellation and postponement, this time it was a complete failure," Hirotaka Watanabe, a space policy professor at Osaka University told Reuters.
"This will have a serious impact on Japan's future space policy, space business and technological competitiveness," he added.
Japan's Science Minister Keiko Nagaoka said authorities would investigate the cause of the engine failure.
She apologised for "failing to meet the expectations of the public and related parties" and described the development as "extremely regrettable".
Japan had presented the H3 as a viable commercial alternative to the Falcon 9 rocket because the H3 ran on a lower-cost engine with 3D-printed parts.
Had the mission succeeded, Jaxa said it had planned to launch the H3 around six times a year for the next two decades.
Japan is deepening co-operation with the US in space and has committed to carrying cargo to the planned Gateway lunar space station - which Nasa plans to deploy to the moon's orbit.
Tokyo's broader space programme also involves sending people to the moon, including Japanese astronauts.