Tag: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
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JAXA RV-X Completes 10m Hop Test at Noshiro
Did JAXA Just Fly Japan’s First Reusable Rocket Prototype? JAXA’s RV-X experimental vehicle lifted 10 meters off a concrete pad at the Noshiro test facility on July 11, 2026 — a 40-second hop that marks Japan’s first successful flight of a reusable rocket prototype. The 7.3-meter-tall, single-engine vehicle rose just over 10 meters, translated approximately…
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Japan’s H3 to returns to flight with debut launch of lightest configuration
Japan’s H3 rocket successfully returned to flight Friday, with a launch that also marked the debut of a new configuration, optimized for smaller payloads. Liftoff took place at 00:53 UTC (9:53 a.m. local time) from the Tanegashima Space Center. Friday’s launch was the eighth flight of the H3, and its first since a failure last…
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Japan’s GOSAT-GW launches aboard final H-IIA rocket
The final flight of Japan’s H-IIA rocket took place on Saturday, carrying the GOSAT-GW environmental research satellite to orbit and ending a career that has spanned 24 years and 50 missions. Liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center occurred on time at 16:33:03 UTC (1:33 AM local time on Sunday), the opening of a 19-minute window.…
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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’s maiden launch of H3 rocket fails during second stage flight
JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched – at the second attempt – to maiden launch of the H3 launch vehicle at 01:37 UTC Tuesday. However, the vehicle failed shortly after staging, via an apparent failure to light the second stage that was set to deploy the ALOS-3 optical satellite into a 669-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).…
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Japan launches H-IIA with QZS-1R satellite
Japan’s H-IIA rocket launched on October 26 at 02:19 UTC from LA-Y1 at the Tanegashima Space Center, carrying the QZS-1R satellite. This was 44th launch of the H-IIA rocket for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). For the mission, the H-IIA launched in the 202 configuration. QZS-1R The QZS-1R satellite will…
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Video: H-2A rocket lifts off from Tanegashima
Japan’s 35th H-2A rocket blasted off Saturday from the Tanegashima Space Center, flying into orbit in its most powerful configuration with a geostationary navigation satellite. The 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket took off at 0529 GMT (1:29 a.m. EDT; 2:29 p.m. Japan Standard Time) with Michibiki 3, the third in a series of at least four Japanese…
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Japan launches navigation satellite after week-long delay
Japan’s H-2A rocket lifts off Saturday from the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: MHI A Japanese H-2A rocket soared away from a launch pad on a rocky overlook on the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, hauling into orbit the country’s third Michibiki satellite to join a constellation of navigation aids to improve positioning services across the country.…
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H-2A rocket grounded by problem in propulsion system
The H-2A rocket topped with the Michibiki 3 navigation satellite awaits liftoff from a launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. Credit: JAXA A Japanese launch crew filled an H-2A rocket with cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants in time for a planned liftoff Saturday with a geostationary navigation satellite, but…
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Live coverage: H-2A rocket blasts off with navigation satellite
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Japanese H-2A rocket with the Michibiki 3 navigation satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.