The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched its new flagship spacecraft, the H3, on Saturday after several delays and a failed inaugural flight earlier in 2023. The agency confirmed the successful separation of the payloads and the controlled reentry of the vehicle. The H3 took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan at 9:22:55 local time (00:22 GMT), in a live broadcast on their Youtube channel watched by around 200,000 spectators.
The main goal of this second test launch of the rocket, which is expected to replace JAXA’s current H2, was for the second stage engine to ignite as planned and place the rocket in Earth’s orbit. Cheers erupted in the control room around 18 minutes later when the success of the operation was confirmed. “The vehicle has reached the target orbit as planned,” JAXA announced around 9:40 (00:40 GMT), while the broadcast showed controllers hugging among cheers of joy and agency officials crying.
The rocket flew as planned, injecting the second stage into the predetermined orbit and confirming the separation of the CE-SAT-IE (one of the two mini satellites it carried, for disaster observation) approximately 16 minutes and 43 seconds after launch, JAXA detailed in a press release. The data also confirmed the separation signal sent from the TIRSAT (the other mini satellite), the controlled reentry of the vehicle, and the separation of another payload, a simulated aluminum satellite that was included to verify the rocket’s performance.
At a press conference held about three hours after the launch to provide details on the operation, JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa expressed happiness at the success of the test flight and said that the agency had worked “diligently to prevent a failure like the initial flight from happening again.” “I have been in the space industry for a long time, but I have never felt so happy or relieved,” Yamakawa added, thanking the team that has been working on the H3 for a decade.
The first H3 was launched in March 2023, but the second stage engine failed to ignite, leading to the spacecraft being ordered to self-destruct in flight, resulting in a failure that greatly impacted the Japanese aerospace industry. The H3 is intended to become the new flagship heavy cargo vehicle of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, replacing the currently operating H2A, and is key to Japan’s aspirations to enhance its competitiveness in the global aerospace sector. In addition to satellite launches, the H3 can deliver supplies and materials to the International Space Station and the lunar Gateway orbital platform, designed as part of NASA’s Artemis space program. Source: Sinc Agency
via: MiMub in Spanish
