On Tuesday, Japan’s new rocket failed on its first flight in space after the rocket’s second-stage engine did not ignite as intended, in a collision with its efforts to cut the cost of accessing space and compete against SpaceX.
The 57-meter tall H3 rocket lifted off without a hitch from the Tanegashima spaceport, a live-streamed broadcast by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) showed. But upon going to space, the rocket’s second-stage engine failed to ignite, causing mission officials to manually destroy the vehicle.
It was decided the rocket could not complete its mission, so the destruct command was sent. So what happened? It’s something we will have to investigate looking at all the data.”
a launch broadcast commentator from JAXA said
The failed attempt followed an aborted launch last month.
Unlike the previous cancellation and postponement, this time it was a complete failure. This will have a serious impact on Japan’s future space policy, space business and technological competitiveness.”
Hirotaka Watanabe, a professor at Osaka University with expertise in space policy.
Japan’s first new rocket in three decades was taking the ALOS-3, a disaster management land observation satellite, which was also equipped with an experimental infrared sensor created to detect North Korean missile launches.
H3 builder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said it was proving the circumstances surrounding the rocket with JAXA and did not have an immediate statement. MHI has estimated that the H3’s cost per launch will be half that of its predecessor, the H-II, allowing it to win business in a global launch market increasingly overpowered by SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket.
A company spokesperson said earlier that it was also depending on the reliability of Japan’s previous rockets to earn business. In a report published in September, the Center for Strategic and International Studies put the price of a Falcon 9 launch to low Earth orbit at $2,600 per kilogram. The comparable price tag for the H-II is $10,500.
On Tuesday, a successful launch would have put the Japanese rocket into space ahead of the scheduled launch later this year of the European Space Agency’s new lower-cost Ariane 6 vehicle. Powered by a new simpler, lower-cost engine that includes 3D-printed parts, the H3 is created to lift government and commercial satellites into Earth orbit and will transport supplies to the International Space Station.
