Japan sees success in launch of H3 rocket
TOKYO — Japan successfully launched its new H3 flagship rocket on Saturday, putting its space program back on track after multiple setbacks, including the failure of the rocket’s inaugural flight last year.
The launch also marks a second straight win for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, after its lunar lander, SLIM, achieved a “pinpoint” touchdown last month and made Japan the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon.
The next-generation H3 rocket has been mooted as a possible competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, and could one day be used to deliver cargo to bases on the moon.
The H3 lifted off at 9:22 am. After it successfully released a small satellite, jubilant scientists at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan clapped, yelled and hugged each other.
The rocket also released a microsatellite and a dummy satellite during its flight of nearly two hours.
“The newborn H3 has just made its first cry”, said JAXA project manager Masashi Okada, who has led the decadelong development of the new rocket.
“I now feel a heavy load taken off my shoulders. But now is the real start for H3, and we will work to steadily improve it.”
The H3 is due to replace the two-decade-old H-2A, which is retiring after two more launches. Another failed flight would have seen Japan face the prospect of losing independent access to space.
The first launch 11 months ago ended up with ground control destroying the rocket 14 minutes after liftoff when the secondstage engine failed to ignite. JAXA listed three possible electrical faults in a review published in October but could not identify the direct cause.
Five months earlier, JAXA’s small rocket Epsilon had also failed to launch.
“So happy to see this incredible accomplishment in the space sector that follows on from the success of the SLIM moon landing,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The 63-meter H3 is designed to carry a 6.5-metric-ton payload. Over the long term the agency wants to reduce per-launch cost to as low as $33 million — half of what an H-2A launch costs — by adopting simpler structures and automotive-grade electronics.
JAXA and primary contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries hope those features will help them win launch orders from global clients.
“It’s taken some time for the program to get to this point, but with this launch they will be fielding inquiries from around the world,” said Ko Ogasawara, a professor at the Tokyo University of Science.
The Japanese government plans to launch about 20 satellites and probes with H3 rockets by 2030 for domestic use. The H3 is scheduled to deliver a lunar explorer for the joint Japan-India LUPEX project next year as well as cargo spacecraft for the US-led Artemis moon exploration program in the future.