{"id":9657,"date":"2025-12-22T18:19:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T10:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/h3-rocket-suffers-upper-stage-anomaly-fails-to-correctly-deploy-navigation-satellite\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T18:19:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T10:19:56","slug":"h3-rocket-suffers-upper-stage-anomaly-fails-to-correctly-deploy-navigation-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/h3-rocket-suffers-upper-stage-anomaly-fails-to-correctly-deploy-navigation-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"H3 rocket suffers upper stage anomaly, fails to correctly deploy navigation satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_71964\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71964\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-71964\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251222_H3_anomaly_launch.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"678\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251222_H3_anomaly_launch.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251222_H3_anomaly_launch-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-71964\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A flight of Japan\u2019s H3 rocket ended in failure on Dec. 22 after the upper stage experienced an anomaly.<\/p>\n<p>In a post-launch statement, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) pointed to an issue with the LE-5B-3 engine, which is powered by a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe second stage engine\u2019s second ignition failed to start normally and shut down prematurely,\u201d JAXA said. \u201cAs a result, QZS-5 could not be put into the planned orbit, and the launch failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rocket lifted off at 10:51 a.m. JST (0151 UTC) from the Tanegashima Space Center on Dec. 22 and had a nominal performance of the rocket\u2019s first stage. There were two planned burns of the upper stage, according to the planned mission timeline.<\/p>\n<p>The second burn was slated to last for more than four minutes in duration, but it ended abruptly.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p9WlvRyJaW0?si=CgdWhoJVTI-fP0SJ\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be impossible to carry out next liftoff without determining the cause (of the failure) and implementing preventive measures,\u201d JAXA project manager Makoto Arita said at a press conference, according to Japan Wire by Kyodo News. The post-anomaly news conference was entirely in Japanese.<\/p>\n<p>Its payload, the QZS-5 (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System) was the sixth satellite launched to provide local navigation services to Japan in order to augment the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, managed by the United States.<\/p>\n<p>This is the second time that an H3 rocket suffered a second-stage anomaly since it debuted in March 2023. That inaugural flight was the first failure for the program.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the rocket\u2019s manufacturer, and JAXA have flown five successful missions with the 63-meter-tall (207 ft) rocket. The most recent of those was the launch of the HTV-X cargo spacecraft on Oct. 26, which flew to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y00mSyccSTA?si=B-rU6968nEkn3zy1\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s H3 rocket ended in failure on Dec. 22 after the upper stage experienced an anomaly. In a [&hellip;]<\/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":[876,877,878,879],"class_list":["post-9657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-h3","tag-jaxa","tag-mhi","tag-qzs-5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9657"}],"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=9657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}