Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/TOKYO: The first launch of Japan’s brand-new rocket ended in failure on Tuesday when controllers sent a destroy command only 15 minutes after lift-off, according to the country’s space agency.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said, “A destruct command has been transmitted to H3 around 10:52 am (Japan Standard Time), because there was no possibility of achieving the mission.”
A report from broadcaster NHK said the H3 rocket’s second stage did not ignite. The Advance Land Observation Satellite-3 (ALOS-3) orbiter, a ground-mapping and imaging satellite, was carried by a rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.
According to the space agency, this orbiter is intended to play a crucial role in disaster management efforts. ALOS-3 “would cover all of the land regions of Japan and the entire world,” it stated.
The second attempt by JAXA to launch the H3 failed on Tuesday. The H3 could not lift off on February 17 because the two secondary booster engines fastened to the spacecraft’s side did not ignite on the launch pad.
The H3, according to the space agency, will replace Japan’s H-2A and H-2B rockets and can be configured differently depending on what needs to be lifted into orbit. It has already praised the H3’s anticipated capacity to launch official and commercial missions.
Because it uses “commercial-off-the-shelf products of other domestic industries such as the automobile industry rather than products exclusive to space use,” according to JAXA, the H3 would be more cost-effective than many other launch vehicles.
An issue with the booster engine forced the H3 rocket launch from Japan to be aborted. “With numerous configurations, the H3 delivers performance and price fit for purposes of each satellite,” adding that it sought frequent launches in the long run.
“By steadily launching the H3 six or so times a year for 20 years, we seek to build an operating world where the Japanese industrial base can be supported,” according to JAXA. For the rocket, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the main contractor.
NHK said the project had cost JAXA and Mitsubishi more than $1.5 billion since it began nine years ago.
