Tag: MHI
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H3 rocket suffers upper stage anomaly, fails to correctly deploy navigation satellite
An H3 rocket from Mitsubishi Heavy Technologies and JAXA lifts off with the QZS-5 navigation satellite. The rocket suffered a second stage anomaly that prevented a successful deployment at the correct altitude. Image: JAXA A flight of Japan’s H3 rocket ended in failure on Dec. 22 after the upper stage experienced an anomaly. In a…
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Japan’s new H3 rocket proved it works, but will it catch on anywhere else?
Japan’s new H3 rocket took off Friday on its second test flight; its success is an important milestone for the launch vehicle poised to power nearly all of the Japanese space program’s missions into orbit over the next decade. The 187-foot-tall (57-meter) H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan at…
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JAXA reaches orbit on the second launch of H3
Japan’s H3 rocket made a second attempt to reach orbit on Saturday, 11 months after it failed during its maiden flight. The rocket successfully sent a mass simulator and two small satellites to the same 669-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit it targeted on the previous mission. Liftoff commenced at 00:22 UTC (9:22 AM local time) from Launch…
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Japan is studying a reusable rocket, but it won’t fly before 2030
Japan debuted the new flagship H3 rocket in March, capping a decade-long, nearly $1.5 billion development effort to replace a launch vehicle that has been in service for more than 20 years. The H3’s upper stage failed to ignite a few minutes after liftoff, causing the rocket and its Earth observation payload to crash into…
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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…
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Japan launches joint military, scientific optical data relay satellite
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan plans launched an H-IIA rocket on Sunday, 29 November to deploy a top secret communications satellite to support the country’s reconnaissance and scientific programs. Liftoff occurred at the start of a two-hour window that opened at 16:25 local time (07:25 UTC or 02:25 EST) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The…
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Live coverage: Japanese navigation satellite launches on H-2A rocket
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket with the Michibiki 4 navigation satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Successful H-2A rocket launch rounds out Japanese navigation network
Credit: JAXA Japan’s regional satellite navigation network, conceived to improve GPS coverage over Japanese territory, received its fourth member Monday with an on-target H-2A rocket launch. The addition of the Michibiki 4 satellite puts Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System on course to begin full operational service early next year, coming after the launch of the network’s…
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Japan’s MHI wins deal to launch satellite for Inmarsat
The Inmarsat 6 F1 satellite will launch in 2020 on an H-2A rocket fitted with four solid rocket boosters. This photo shows the H-2A “204” launcher shortly after takeoff in November 2015. Credit: MHI Inmarsat has selected Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch the first of two planned sixth-generation communications satellites on an H-2A rocket in…
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Japanese H-2A rocket launch rescheduled for Saturday
A photo of the H-2A rocket on the launch pad during a launch attempt Aug. 12. Credit: MHI A heavy-duty version of Japan’s H-2A rocket is now scheduled to lift off Saturday with a geostationary navigation satellite after a week-long delay to diagnose and resolve a leak in the rocket’s propulsion system, the Japanese space…