{"id":14575,"date":"2017-05-31T17:56:08","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/photos-japans-h-2a-rocket-prepared-for-launch-with-michibiki-2\/"},"modified":"2017-05-31T17:56:08","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:56:08","slug":"photos-japans-h-2a-rocket-prepared-for-launch-with-michibiki-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/photos-japans-h-2a-rocket-prepared-for-launch-with-michibiki-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Japan\u2019s H-2A rocket prepared for launch with Michibiki 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second satellite in Japan\u2019s regional space-based navigation constellation is set for launch Thursday aboard an H-2A rocket, and these photos show the hydrogen-fueled launcher\u2019s preparations for liftoff, from stacking inside an assembly hangar at the Tanegashima Space Center through rollout to the launch pad.<\/p>\n

The two-stage, 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket is powered by hydrogen-fueled engines and two strap-on solid rocket boosters. Thursday\u2019s launch will be the 34th flight of an H-2A rocket since its debut in August 2001, and the third H-2A launch this year.<\/p>\n

Its payload is the Michibiki 2 navigation satellite, a Japanese-built spacecraft that is the second of at least four positioning and timing stations Japan is deploying to improve navigation services over East Asia.<\/p>\n

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Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ground crews attach one of the H-2A rocket\u2019s solid-fueled boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Tanegashima Space Center in advance of this week\u2019s launch. Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: MHI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second satellite in Japan\u2019s regional space-based navigation constellation is set for launch Thursday aboard an H-2A rocket, and these photos show the hydrogen-fueled launcher\u2019s preparations for liftoff, from stacking inside an assembly hangar at the Tanegashima Space Center through rollout to the launch pad. The two-stage, 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket is powered by hydrogen-fueled engines […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[377,877,25,3296,2485,3209,395,3224],"class_list":["post-14575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-japan","tag-jaxa","tag-launch","tag-michibiki-2","tag-mitsubishi-electric","tag-mitsubishi-heavy-industries","tag-navigation","tag-quasi-zenith-satellite-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}